Riah Pryor reports on HMRC registration progress by UK art market participants. She sought input from ArtAML™ CEO Susan J Mumford and Canvas Art Law Founder / Director Fionnuala Rogers.

According to Riah’s research, 475 businesses had registered as of 10th August 2021. She notes that there can be a lag between registration and acceptance, followed by another delay between acceptance and listing on the publicly-accessible database. She also noted that art market participants represent only 1% of supervised businesses that need to register.

Susan noted:

“While there isn’t a definitive answer as to how many businesses should be registered, it’s likely many will register in the autumn, while others may still be working out if they’re caught.”

Fionnuala added:

“At the eleventh-hour, HM Treasury confirmed that artists were not caught [or covered by the regulations], and on 30 June, the latest AML guidance released from HMRC confirmed that interior designers could be caught. So, I’m not surprised that those who are not yet sure are waiting for further clarity,”

Read the full piece, published September 3rd, 2021, in The Art Newspaper. Many thanks to journalist Riah Pryor.