Penalty awarded for failing to register as a high value dealer
A jeweller was recently found liable to pay a penalty as he had failed to register as a high value dealer under the Money Laundering Regulations.
A high value dealer is defined in the Regulations as a person who carries on the activity of dealing in goods of any description by way of business…whenever a transaction involves accepting a total cash payment of 15,000 euro or more.
In this case the jeweller was accused of having accepted cash payments for goods above the registration limit. The jeweller’s defence was that he had been unaware of his obligations and had only been notified of them after the event. The Tribunal was unable to accept this defence given the publicity and available information.
The £1,000 penalty, which had originally been imposed by HMRC in March 2006, was upheld by the Tribunal at the Hearing in September 2009.