Economic Crime Levy Explained: Who Pays and What Changed in April 2026

If your firm is subject to the Money Laundering Regulations, there's a good chance you're also on the hook for the Economic Crime Levy — an annual charge that's easy to overlook because it isn't collected through the usual corporation tax cycle, and because the amount due changed significantly from April 2026.

What is the Economic Crime Levy?

The Economic Crime Levy (ECL) is an annual charge introduced to help fund the UK's fight against money laundering and economic crime, payable by businesses that are supervised under the Money Laundering Regulations. Unlike most levies and taxes, it's charged regardless of whether the firm has actually been involved in any wrongdoing — it exists purely because the business operates in a sector subject to AML supervision, on the logic that the AML-regulated sector as a whole should help fund the enforcement infrastructure that oversees it.

Who has to pay it

The ECL applies to any entity carrying on "regulated business" under the Money Laundering Regulations with UK revenue exceeding £10.2 million. In practice, this catches a wide range of professional and financial services firms: credit and financial institutions, auditors, accountants, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, estate agents, and other AML-regulated businesses. If your accountancy practice is registered with a supervisory body for AML purposes and turns over more than £10.2 million in UK revenue, you're almost certainly in scope.

Revenue is assessed on an entity-by-entity basis, using UK-only turnover taken from the profit and loss account prepared under UK GAAP — revenue from overseas permanent establishments is excluded from the calculation.

How the levy bands work, and what changed in April 2026

The ECL is banded by size, with larger firms paying substantially more. For financial years starting before 1 April 2026, the size categories were small, medium, large and very large. From the financial year starting 1 April 2026 onwards, these categories were replaced by bands A to D, and — significantly for the largest firms — the maximum levy payable rose sharply: the top-band charge for very large entities increased from £500,000 (for the financial year starting 1 April 2025) to £1 million (for the financial year starting 1 April 2026). Firms that assumed their ECL exposure was fixed year to year should specifically check whether they've moved into a higher band, or whether their existing band's charge has increased.

When and how it's paid

Payment timing depends on which supervisor regulates the firm:

• HMRC and Gambling Commission-supervised firms self-assess their own liability and must pay by 30 September following the end of the financial year in which the liability arose.
• FCA-regulated firms only submit a return once notified in writing by the FCA, and then have 30 days from notification to pay.

Firms need to register for the ECL directly with the relevant authority before they can pay — this isn't handled automatically through existing AML registration.

Why this matters for accountancy practices specifically

Accountancy firms sit squarely in scope of the ECL as AML-regulated businesses in their own right, which makes this a genuinely practical compliance item, not just something to explain to clients. Firms should:

• Confirm which supervisory body they fall under for AML purposes, since that determines the payment mechanism and deadline
• Recalculate UK revenue against the current band thresholds each year, particularly given the April 2026 increases
• Build the ECL into annual compliance and tax calendars alongside existing AML compliance obligations, rather than treating it as a one-off registration task
• Flag the levy to clients in other AML-regulated sectors (law firms, estate agents, financial institutions) who may not be aware it applies to them

FAQ

Does the Economic Crime Levy apply to every accountancy firm?
No — only firms with UK revenue exceeding £10.2 million that are supervised under the Money Laundering Regulations. Smaller practices below that threshold are out of scope.

Is the levy linked to whether a firm has had an AML breach?
No — it's charged simply because the firm operates in an AML-regulated sector, regardless of its compliance record.

Did the levy amount change in 2026?
Yes — for the largest firms (band D / "very large"), the maximum levy doubled from £500,000 to £1 million between the financial years starting April 2025 and April 2026.

Staying on top of AML-adjacent compliance obligations like the ECL is part of the wider financial crime landscape accountancy practices now have to manage. Learnsignal's CPD courses cover the AML and economic crime topics UK accountants need to keep current on.

A levy that's easy to miss

Because the ECL sits outside the normal corporation tax self-assessment cycle, it's a genuinely easy thing for a growing firm to miss — particularly one that has recently crossed the £10.2 million UK revenue threshold for the first time, or that has grown into a higher band without anyone specifically checking. Unlike PAYE, VAT or corporation tax, there's no automatic prompt from an existing filing process; a firm has to actively register for the ECL once it becomes liable. Firms that acquire or merge with another AML-regulated business should also double-check the combined entity's position, since a merger can push previously out-of-scope revenue over the threshold without anyone treating it as an ECL trigger event.