Netherlands Wwft for Accountants: BFT Guidance 2024

The Netherlands applies anti-money laundering (AML) rules to accountants through the Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, usually shortened to the Wwft. This guide is built from the Bureau Financieel Toezicht (BFT) specific guidance dated 24 October 2024, from FIU-Nederland's English pages on reporting, and from the Dutch government's business.gov.nl summary. It also states plainly what those sources did not let us confirm, including reporting indicators, tipping off and fine levels.

Who supervises accountants

The BFT supervises Wwft compliance by accountants, tax advisers and administration offices. A May 2020 report on the cooperation agreement between the BFT and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) quotes the BFT as saying it supervises Wwft compliance "among others" for accountants and tax advisers, while the AFM supervises the Audit Firms Supervision Act (Wta). That report adds that a Wwft amendment effective 1 January 2020 allowed the two bodies to exchange information. The two supervisors look at different laws, so a firm holding an AFM licence may deal with both.

The BFT's October 2024 guidance

The BFT's "Specifieke leidraad" for the professions in article 1a(4)(a) and (b) of the Wwft is dated 24 October 2024 and replaces the 2018 version. The BFT states that it is not legally binding and that it supplements the general Wwft guidance from the ministries of Finance and of Justice and Security. It covers accountants, tax advisers and administration offices, and says salary administration offices may also fall under the Wwft depending on the services they provide. Whether you are in scope depends on whether the activity is performed independently and on a professional or business basis.

Customer due diligence and beneficial owners

According to the guidance, standard due diligence covers identification and verification of the client, understanding the ownership and control structure, the purpose of the relationship, ongoing monitoring and record keeping. Identity should generally be verified before services begin. Points worth noting include:

• Beneficial owners: for a BV or NV, an ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) is a natural person who holds more than 25% of the shares, voting rights or ownership interest, or who has control by other means.
• Senior managers as "pseudo-UBOs": senior management may be recorded only as a last resort once all other options are exhausted.
• Simplified due diligence: permitted only after a risk assessment, and it can never be omitted entirely.
• Enhanced due diligence: applies to higher risk, high-risk countries, complex or unusually large transactions and politically exposed persons.
• Remote verification: allowed with a substantial or high-assurance electronic ID, and otherwise limited to low-risk clients.

The guidance also notes a temporary arrangement, applying from 1 August 2024, for obtaining certified UBO register extracts from clients, and a duty to report UBO discrepancies to the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) that applies from 1 October 2024 in the cases the guidance describes. For general principles, see our guides to ultimate beneficial ownership and customer due diligence in accountancy practices.

Record keeping

The BFT says due diligence records should be kept for five years after the transaction or the end of the client relationship, unless another legal provision says otherwise, and that personal data must be destroyed right after that period.

Compliance function, training and screening

• Three lines of defence: operational staff, a compliance function and an audit function.
• When the functions are mandatory: article 2d(1) of the Wwft requires a compliance function and an audit function when daily policy is set by two or more people, scaled to the firm. The BFT considers them mandatory for firms with works council obligations, generally from 50 employees, and firms below that size may still need them if more than 75% of their clients or transactions are high-risk.
• Training: under article 35 of the Wwft it must be periodic, not one-off, and tailored to the firm. Discussing Wwft cases at team meetings alone does not count.
• Screening: staff and those setting daily policy must be screened, a rule the BFT says has applied since 15 October 2020.

Reporting unusual transactions

The Wwft uses the concept of an "unusual transaction" rather than a suspicion in the narrow sense. FIU-Nederland says reporting entities must report any unusual transaction, whether completed or intended, and that failing to do so breaches the Wwft. Under the BFT's guidance the threshold for reporting is low: you do not need to establish that money laundering or terrorist financing actually occurred, and the materiality used in audits plays no role in the decision.

FIU-Nederland says the indicators differ per reporting group, are set out in the 2018 Implementation Decree of the Wwft, and that a transaction already reported to the police or the Public Prosecution Service for money laundering or terrorist financing should also be reported to FIU. You must be registered as a separate reporting entity in each capacity in which you act. The government's business.gov.nl summary says reports are due immediately, that you are not liable for damage a client suffers because of your report, and that reporting is done anonymously.

What we could not confirm

• The detailed objective and subjective indicators for accountants in the current version of the Decree and the BFT guidance, since our copy of the guidance ended before its reporting chapter.
• The tipping-off prohibition and its exact wording.
• The level of administrative fines and the BFT's enforcement approach, covered in a chapter of the guidance we could not read.
• The statute itself, which we did not open directly.

Practical steps: our suggestions

These are our suggestions, not requirements of the Wwft or the BFT.

1. Read the full October 2024 BFT guidance, including its reporting and enforcement chapters, before relying on this summary.
2. Check whether your firm meets the 50-employee or 75% high-risk tests for compliance and audit functions.
3. Make sure your UBO records follow the 25% and control tests, and document why you recorded any pseudo-UBO.
4. Register with FIU-Nederland in each capacity you act in, and test your reporting route.
5. Set a destruction date for client data at the end of the five-year period.

For comparison with regimes outside Europe, see our guide to Qatar.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Wwft apply to auditors?

The BFT covers accountants under article 1a(4)(a) and (b). The AFM supervises audit firms under the Wta. Ask both regulators how the rules apply to your licence.

How long are records kept?

Five years after the transaction or the end of the relationship, according to the BFT's October 2024 guidance.

Is there a minimum amount before I report?

The BFT describes the reporting threshold as low and says audit materiality plays no role. Check the current indicators for any amount-based test.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.