Economic Crime Levy Increased for Largest UK AMPs

Economic Crime Levy Increased for Largest UK Art Market Participants (AMPs)

Written by Rena Neville, Head of FCS Compliance – Art Division

If you are an art market participant (AMP) with a ‘very large revenue’ as defined by the UK Government, then you need to be aware that HMG has increased the economic crime levy you owe. For those AMPs with revenue greater than £1 billion, the Economic Crime Levy has doubled, from £250,000 to £500,000. HMRC announced the change on 6 March 2024*.

The government explains that the purpose of the Levy is ‘to put in place long term sustainable funding to tackle economic crime.’  Apparently, the Levy collected for the period April 2022 to March 2023 fell short of the target of £100 million.

The higher, very large revenue Levy came into effect from 1 April 2024, and applies to revenues for the accounting period that ends on or after 1 April 2024.

The Economic Crime Levy was introduced as part of the 2022 Finance Act. The first year it was charged ran from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. By the end of 2027, the government has committed to conducting a further review of its operation.

The size bands used to determine what is owed are based on revenue. ‘Revenue’ in this context includes sales of tangible goods and service fees. To remind you, below are the size bands, which remain unchanged:

• small businesses with under £10.2 million UK revenue
• medium businesses with UK revenue between £10.2 million to £36 million
• large businesses with UK revenue of £36 million to £1 billion and
• very large businesses with over £1 billion of UK revenue

^{Related source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-levy-increased-charges-for-very-large-entities/economic-crime-levy-charge-increase-for-entities-with-uk-revenue-over-1-billion}

^{Written: April 2024}