Does HMRC's "Making Tax Digital" affect you?

Did you know how much you earn does not only affect how much tax you pay? 

In future, it is likely to affect HOW you (1) account for your gross income and (2) pay your tax. 

This is all part of the Making Tax Digital initiative of HMRC. This blog post is all about what's happened recently and what's coming - and whether you need to know more NOW!

I'm going to say upfront, if you are an amateur artist or a professional not earning very much from your art you have nothing to worry about - for the moment.

However those earning MORE than "not earning very much" MUST get to grips with Making Tax Digital soon. Plus note that they are focused on gross income and not net (more about this below)

Digital record-keeping will deliver time-saving benefits for taxpayers (HMRC)

IN THE NEAR FUTURE, I'm going to be developing a "Making Tax Digital page" in the Tax section of my Art Business Info website - alongside the existing UK Tax Tips for Artists to provide artists with links to useful info.

In the meantime, I'll be blogging about it on here for artists who need to get their heads around it.

Of course, as always (here comes the disclaimer), as law and related online content changes all the time,  I am totally unable to warrant that ANY and/or ALL information is complete and/or

• professional and/or
• up to date and/or
• wholly accurate and/or
• all links lead to the most current information (at the time of writing)

UNLESS I am quoting recent HMRC emails (see below) or HMRC websites with a recent date. 

YOU are solely responsible for making sure that you get the proper advice. Personally, I find the HMRC website provides everything most people need to know - but you do need to read it!

Making Tax Digital

As somebody who completes a self-assessment form each year, I received my Getting ready for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax email from HMRC yesterday which very clearly states the timetable for the staged implementation of Making Tax Digital. 

I assume everybody else who makes a self assessment tax return for sole trader income also got the same email. So look in your inbox if you missed it!

How to get a grant

This is by way of explaining why I'm a bit distracted at the moment.

I'm currently assessing - with others - applications from artists to an art society for some grant funding for very specific projects. 

This is going to take a bit of time....

In a past life, assessing grants - from tiny ones to humungous ones, was part of the seasonal routine of working life. Different sources of funding - for economic and social developments, a range of reasons why grants were available and different aims and objectives for giving out the funds.

There's a more than a few businesses running in London today which I recommended approval of an economic development grant for when they were just starting out. 

The team of people I worked with used to be much loved by central government because we were very good at our jobs. We could always be relied upon to do a robust assessment and make sure all applications had done their homework and got their costings right and had a decent project plan and timeline for delivery - and hence spent the money in the time period they said they would and produced the outcomes and the performance indicators to justify that expenditure. Which is how come we always got the unused funding from other councils to spend on our area. We always kept a list of organisations and projects which could spend more very fast at the end of the year.

There's an art to getting a grant. 

There are things you need to know about what to do - and what not to do.

I can always tell

• those who've made a grant application before; and  
• those who never have; and 
• those who have learned from previous mistakes and know what makes a difference.

It's always a joy to read an application which tells the story simply and clearly and shows the workings in a transparent and comprehensive way. You just know they understand how to make things happen.

Essentially, you need to:

• be specific and focused throughout
• tell them what they want to know i.e. respond precisely to the questions asked in a simple and clear manner 
• provide evidence that you've done your research
• demonstrate you know what's involved 
• justify your costs
• evidence how you've delivered before - and why you're a good prospect

In the past, I've had artists come to me and ask whether I'd cast an eye over their grant application. I'm always delighted to make suggestions and even more delighted when it helps them get their grant. Very often it's about making the writing simpler and easier to understand.

I do what I call "5 minute freebies" for people i.e. I can stop my life and spend 5 minutes in helping you. Or you can ask for more help....

I've been asked to consider doing a talk about the topic of "how to get a grant" next year and will probably do this - to help aspiring grant applicants to do better in future.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on what help you need or you think artists need in making applications for grants and other forms of funding. I'll be highlighting this post on my Facebook Page - and will be inviting comments there.

Money Laundering, NFTs and artists selling their own work.

NEW WEBPAGE: Money Laundering and the Art Market

Back in April 2021, I wrote about how I needed to update my Art Business Info for Artists website for new law, rules and regulations for the Art Business and Artists.
For example:

• completely new law and regulations relating to Money Laundering in the Art Market

• updates for existing law and regulation eg international trade and shipping for post Brexit ramifications (some is done - but this is still a work in progress as things work their way through - I'm waiting for the resolution of the Irish angle)

I started my Money Laundering Page - but it soon became clear that there were going to be a lot more developments so I held off from Publishing.

A number of other industry sectors, such as banking, have long been the subject of an anti-money laundering regulatory framework. The reason for now extending that framework to the art market is a concern that the art market could be used by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime such as drug trafficking, modern slavery, tax evasion, corruption or theft.

Today I published the new page - in part in response to an artist friend who wrote to me about the nuisance (scam) communications relating to NFTs - to which my response was "they're scams - it's all about money laundering!" 

However to write about the NFTs I needed to provide some context in terms of the MEGA changes in law and regulations which MUST now be complied with by a variety of those who are active players in the art market - so I can highlight how most NFTs approaches to artists are linked to money laundering. 

It's all about a very welcome exemption from the Regulations for artists trading their own art.

NEW: Money Laundering & the Art Market

So this is my new page: Money Laundering & the Art Market: Anti Money Laundering (AML): Law, Regulations and Practice

Plus here's the main reason why I held off.......

• The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 took effect on 10th January 2020. This introduced the notion of the Art Market Participant who must comply with the regulations
• The 2019 Regulations indicate that the definition of Art Market Participants (AMPs) is as follows

  “a firm or sole practitioner who by way of business trades in, or acts as an intermediary in the sale or purchase of, works of art and the value of the transaction, or a series of linked transactions, amounts to 10,000 euros or more”

• In 2022, the Money Laundering Regulations related to the draft legislation recorded the fact artists are not included as AMPs 

The changes introduced mean that from 10 January 2020, AMPs as defined in the MLRs (which excludes artists selling their own work (my underlining) – see paragraph 19 below) must: 

• Register with HMRC before they carry on with their business, where this involves a transaction of 10,000 euros or more, or a series of linked transactions of 10,000 euros or more 
• Carry out a written risk assessment of the extent to which they are exposed to money laundering 
• Maintain a written prescribed range of policies, controls and procedures 
• Carry out CDD measures on customers before they conclude a transaction 
• Appoint a nominated officer 
• Train staff appropriately 
• Report suspicious transactions to the authorities 
• Keep appropriate records of CDD and of transaction

• Last month (6th February 2023), the British Art Market Federation's Guidance on Anti Money Laundering for Art Market Participants - approved by HMRC - was published and is the current up to date summary of how the law now works for different organisations and people participating in the art market and selling art.

This is the relevant link to the supporting HMRC Page Guidance - Money laundering supervision for art market participants

This is the new guidance on artists in relation to AMPs ( my bold )

19. Artists selling their own work, whether as an individual/sole practitioner or through a business they own, are not within the scope of the MLRs, and so are not required to register as an AMP. This extends to sales of an artist’s own work through their business, which only sells their work (but not for sales of other artists’ work if also sold through their business). Similarly, sales out of an artist’s estate, or sales of an artist’s work by someone employed by the artist, or the artist’s business, to sell the artist’s work, are not within scope of the MLRs.

How this affects artists and NFTs

The major change affecting artists is that artists are now NOT identified as "art market participants" (AMPs - who must register and comply with all the legislation) any more IF they are only selling their own art.

It's odd how artists are now being bombarded - mainly via Instagram - with requests to make their artwork available for NFTs.

Hence, given they are excluded from the monitoring requirements, artists are now prime targets for those wanting to launder money.

So if you are one of those being bombarded with NFT requests:

• just be aware, and stay away from unconventional sales of unconventional art commodities if you want to play it safe and avoid being involved with money laundering.
• make NFT a term which means that a message cannot be sent to you
• ALWAYS check that you know who you are dealing with - particularly if the transaction is international.

NOTE: I've still to do a detailed note and update about NFTs for the Money Laundering page.

Dear Facebook - I'm not buying adverts from you EVER!

Yesterday I wrote about about the RSW Open Call for Entries - and then posted it to Facebook. Later I took a look at it to see if there had been any comments - but the post had received very few visitors and I couldn't work out why.

Today I worked out why! This is the message below the post on my Making A Mark Facebook Page.

Boost this post to reach up to 493 more people daily if you spend £14.

The absurd plea for me to spend cash with Facebook

Facebook has decided it wants to generate advertising income from this post before it gives me any traffic for it!

Important Messages for Facebook

I have a few messages for Facebook

1. I have no connection whatsoever - financial or otherwise - with the Royal Watercolour Society or the Bankside Gallery.
2. When I first joined Facebook you had Pages which were recognised as Information Pages. 
• Now you treat everything as if it's EITHER Personal OR a Business - when actually there are a lot which are neither - they're providing information!
• Neither my Making A Mark blog nor my Making A Mark Facebook Page are a business. 
3. I'm NOT selling anything with my blog and I'm not selling anything with my blog post. I get absolutely no income whatsoever from highlighting Call for Entries from many and diverse sources. (The same applies to all other Calls for Entries). 
4. As I'm NOT generating an income, I'm very definitely NOT going to be spending any money on adverts!
5. I will NEVER EVER spend any money on the Facebook platform in order to generate advertising revenue - especially when
• it is currently experiencing financial difficulties and behaving in a rather desperate way in trying to bump up advertising income
• I consider my content is being held to ransom by Facebook algorithms!

This is quite apart from the fact I've read many reports from artists over the years that paying for adverts on facebook has no positive impact on their business.

Yesterday's post on my Facebook Page

Facebook would also do well to remember that 

• their overblown overstaffed platform and the current Twitter hiatus is going to result in the generation of new and more effective slimline social media platforms - which cater better for users.
• treating your users badly now does not create a warm fuzzy feeling about Facebook going forward......

Artists - Do you have a Profitable Side Hustle?

I know a number of artists whose taxable income comes from a portfolio of activities and income streams - and notably includes a side hustle.

I'm thinking about writing about the type of Artists' Side Hustles which have proved SUCCESSFUL in

• diversifying the activities of a (would-be) professional artist (as in "I'm aiming to make all my income from art")
• generating another income stream 
• reducing the risk to your economic wellbeing when all art sales suddenly dry up.

Copyright Making A Mark Publications

What is a Side Hustle?

What is art? (legally speaking)

I needed to find a definition for the question "What is art" recently while developing a new page about Money Laundering & the Art Market: Law, Regulations and Practice.

[Note: If you are selling art - but are not an individual artist who is selling their own art - and don't know about the new money laundering regulations, there is a very serious gap in your "need to know" art business knowledge. I'm hoping to publish soon.....]

So what is art?

Purists might suggest that if the artist says it's art then it's art. 

That might be fine in isolation - but it doesn't cut it as a definition in the "Art as a Merchantable Commodity Market" where there are very many relevant laws and regulations - and taxes and penalties and fines. ( for anybody in any doubt I suggest you read my Art Business Info for Artists page about "Legal Matters for Artists - How to stay on the right side of the law ​and understand all relevant legal liabilities" )

The legal definition of works of art in the UK

It's really quite simple. 

Art (in the UK) is defined for art business, tax, finance and money laundering purposes as stated below. 

Works of Art" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and includes:

• Painting, drawings, collages and decorative plaques executed by hand; 
• Limited edition prints; 
• Original sculpture or statuary and limited edition sculpture casts; 
• Handmade limited edition tapestries and hangings; 
• Signed ceramics executed by an individual; 
• Signed limited edition enamels on copper (not comprised in an article of jewellery); and 
• Signed limited edition photographs. 

By way of contrast in the USA the courts have been used to dispute and contest constraints (i.e. "the obscenity pledge" and "the decency clause") which related to censorship of what is deemed inappropriate for public funding. In doing so they referenced the First and Fifth Amendments.

NFTs are NOT Art

Interestingly, I've only just realised that last week there was a bit of a furore online because Wikipedia has decided that NFTs are NOT ART! 

As in 

• Sales of 'art' as NFTs are NOT art sales.
• the most expensive NFTs which purport to be art are not being included in the list of the most expensive artworks ever sold

You can read the debate on the discussion page here - under 'Separation of NFT sales and artwork sales' which cites

NFTs are not a new artistic medium in the way that oil paint, printmaking, photography or video art were. Even digital art (which is just art made on a computer) preexisted NFTs by decades. NFTs are financial instruments. They make it easier to sell digital files by creating scarcity. Washington Post

Beeple’s work has been compared to that of KAWS or Banksy, two other artists who have bypassed art-world gatekeepers to establish huge sale prices. But ultimately, NFTs are a technology used to authenticate an artwork; determining whether a work is art or not is up to the viewer. The technology can be used to authenticate other kinds of objects, too. New York Times

So we now have

• List of most expensive paintings
• List of most expensive photographs
• List of most expensive sculptures
• List of most expensive artworks by living artists
• List of most expensive non-fungible tokens

An NFT is a Non-fungible token 

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger.[1] Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. (Wikipedia)

This in turn could affect their value - and hence there's a lot of "investment" in how they should be defined!

Personally, for me, an NFT is a digital token not art - and won't ever be art until it enjoys copyright protection - which NFTs do not.

Here are some of the articles discussing Wikipedia's decision to define NFTs - as NFTs!

• Wikipedia Editors Have Voted Not to Classify NFTs as Art, Sparking Outrage in the Crypto Community | ArtNet News
• What’s Really at Stake in the Debate over Whether NFTs Are Art | ArtNet
• Should NFTs Be Classified as Art? Wikipedia’s Editors Vote ‘No’ | Smithsonian
• NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This | The Atlantic
• How Wikipedia’s Classification Of NFTs As ‘Not Art’ Impacts Equity In The Art World | 
• Are NFTs art? Wikipedia says not exactly | Quartz

I suspect some of the rationale might also relate to law and how art is defined.

An NFT (and, if applicable, the associated license to use, copy or display the underlying asset) can be traded and sold on digital markets. The extralegal nature of NFT trading usually results in an informal exchange of ownership over the asset that has no legal basis for enforcement, often conferring little more than use as a status symbol.

There needs to be parity in terms of the marketplace in terms of what is being bought and sold before you can start making comparisons about "what is the most expensive?"

There again it's entirely possible that there are also some considerable suspicions about:

• inflation of NFT sales/receipts due to "wash trading"
• use of NFTs for money laundering

BECAUSE at the moment there is no regulation of NFTs in terms of robust and regulated financial systems - which will very definitely NOT last forever.

New rules and regulations for Art Business - and Artists

I'm trying to catch up on the amount of change in law and regulations impacting on both artists, art organisations and the art market in the last 18 months.

I'm creating new resource pages for:

• international shipping 
• rules of origin
• export licences
• money laundering regulations for art market participants where a transaction (or series of transactions with the same buyer) exceeds £10,000

Import and export of artwork etc

Since 1st January 2021, 

• I've had LOTS of detailed queries about HOW to import / export art without falling foul of the new regulations
• there has been huge traffic to my Art Business Info for Artists in relation to international shipping and the import or export of art (and other created artworks and/or art material)

As at the beginning of January, there wasn't much to go on in terms of what people needed to do post Brexit - so I held off making changes until the situation improved.

I'm now very slowly slogging my way through the HUGE amount of new documentation from HMRC and various government departments which relates to the import / export of art and art materials post 1st January 2021 i.e. post the UK leaving the EU.

My brain hurts! 

View of the new page on Rules of Origin on At Business Info for Artists

To date:

• I've got one new page up - on "Rules of Origin" 
• in the SHIP ART section of Art Business Info for Artists
• it's a dedicated page under International Art Shipping: How to ship / export art
  to other countries
• I'm working on Export Licences - and when these are required - which will hopefully publish this week.
• these are required in relation to specific types of art over a specific valuation

I've still got to get my head around the Northern Ireland question and the border in the Irish Sea....

Mandatory Money Laundering Regulations for all Art Market Participants

ALERT!!! Plus I know I need to create a NEW page related to Money Laundering Regulations for Artists (and Art Galleries etc.) in the MONEY section. 

This WILL impact on more than a few artists, selling exhibitions, art societies and art galleries because

• The art market is a known target for money laundering and is officially regarded by HMRC as "high risk"
• The EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) was enacted into UK law with effect from 10 January 2020 and anti money laundering compliance has NOT BEEN OPTIONAL since 10th of January 2020
• The new regulations require a LOT of information to be collected and formally recorded and retained in relation to purchasers of artwork valued (as one lot or an accumulation) above the equivalent of £10,000

To be exempt, an artist (or art organisation) must be 

Not trading in or acting as an intermediary involving a “work of art” in a single transaction, or a series of linked transactions of £10,000 or more.

So basically, every time you price and deal in an artwork above £10,000 you (or your agent) 

• MUST register to comply with the Regulations and 
• MUST maintain all appropriate records - which will be open to inspection by those monitoring compliance (think VAT records!)

Art Market Participants (AMPs) which includes any person or organisation dealing in art - have until 10th June 2021 to register to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations (i.e. it was deferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic).

See for example The Art Newspaper's article (updated in March 2021) The art market is 'high risk' for money laundering, so ignore new regulations at your peril

More on this when my new page is published in the near future.

The pages improve with age!

As always with these sort of initiatives my first published page is the best I can do at the time. HOWEVER they always improve over time as:

• I find more information 
• fill the gaps in advice
• make the entire page more related to the art business - while at the same time providing the context for "what an artist needs to know" (or art gallery or art collector!)

The Continuing Saga of Sackler Embarrassment for Art Galleries and Museums

Remember the protests against the Sackler Family relating to the Opioid Crisis around about a year ago? Many were led by Nan Goldin -- and included a die-in at the V&A and a threat to NOT exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery if they accepted a £1million gift from the Sackler Family

There are news reports that Purdue Pharma is to close and be reinvented as a new "public benefit company" controlled by a trust or similar entity.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges for its role in creating the nation's opioid crisis and will pay more than $8 billion and close down the company.

"OxyContin maker to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, pay $8 billion, and will close the company"| CNN

Pat on the back for Nan Goldin and other protestors I think....

References on my Facebook Page to the Opioid / Sackler scandal went as follows:

More protests at sponsors of the arts with a shady past (and present?) . This time Nan Goldin has arrived to protest the Sackler Courtyard at the V&A (re. Opioid scandal and deaths in the US + associated court cases against Sackler)
Extremely odd interview of Nan Goldin on Channel 4
Channel 4 Interviewer "but where are they going to get the funds from?"
Nan Goldin "they don't need more architecture"
Channel 4 Interviewer "but where are they going to get the funds from?"
Nan Goldin "they don't need more architecture"
+ about 2-3 times more at which point I despaired of the Channel 4 ever employing people who listen to the answer.

Artist Nan Goldin leads die-in at V&A over use of Sackler name

Campaigners target £2m museum coutyard over family fortune linked to painkiller Oxycontin

I predicted earlier this week that Nan Goldin would "hit" the art sponsorship connections in London - and guess what....

"The National Portrait Gallery will be forced to turn down a gift of £1m from members of the multibillionaire Sackler family if it goes ahead with a prestigious new exhibition of the work of US artist Nan Goldin."

Nan Goldin threatens London gallery boycott over £1m gift from Sackler fund

Some of you may recall that there was a lot of removal of the Sackler name from very many buildings, art galleries

The Sackler Name

My understanding is that some Sackler names are associated with the potential for criminal charges and others are not - or less so. 

For example, the Elizabeth A. Sackler - whose name is on the Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museumhas distanced her branch of the family from her uncles and cousins and called their OxyContin wealth ‘morally abhorrent’.

It's quite difficult to find an analysis of this.....  It's also not helpful by lazy journalists referring to funders as "The Sackler Family" - without identifying which of the five trusts is responsible

• Meet the Sacklers: the family feuding over blame for the opioid crisis | The Guardian - this was the most helpful explanation I could find

The deal does not release any of the company’s executives or owners – members of the wealthy Sackler family – from criminal liability. A criminal investigation is ongoing. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to plead guilty to three criminal charges

• Massive lawsuit says Sackler family broke laws to profit from opioids | The Guardian  - which names the individuals who are identified in the lawsuit which

accuses Sackler family members of knowingly breaking laws in order to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died.

• 'We need prison time': Purdue's belated guilty plea gets skeptical reaction | The Guardian  

While the guilty plea was welcomed, there was also anger over the US justice department’s failure to prosecute executives

AND SO....

• which are the Sackler names now in the frame for potential criminal liability? (see above)
• when is the Sackler name to be removed from all endowed gifts funded by Oxycontin abuse?
• Or are the organisations going to wait until actual criminal liability is established? (as opposed to the company accepting responsibility and closing down?)

Why every artist should check your State Pension forecast

I worry about artists who don't pay any attention to their need to provide for a pension - even their State Pension - until it's much too late.

This week I claimed my State Pension - which made me feel a lot older - but made my mother feel very much older!!  ;) You have to stake your claim before they will pay it to you in the four months prior to when it becomes payable. Mainly so they can check it's really you and also where to pay the money too. 

The fact it's going to be paid five years and 11 months after it was originally due is a source of much discontent among women of my age - see WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality).  It's also moved backward over two years from the date I was given when I took early retirement from my job. It's going to keep moving too...

One reason why I'm mentioning this now is that at the end of last month I paid some voluntary contributions on my self-employment income which means I now max out on my (contracted out) State Pension - and I have to say I was greatly impressed by the difference those contributions made. It was well worth persevering and getting to the bottom of what I needed to pay to improve my pension as much as I could.

Artists in the UK and the State Pension

Basically artists are self-employed.  You can have a basic minimum State Pension if you have at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record.

To accumulate qualifying years you must pay National Insurance Contributions. This is NOT OPTIONAL for those making profits over a certain level i.e. you cannot avoid them just as you cannot avoid paying tax - via the Self Assessment tax system.

An artist (in the UK) - being self-employed - usually pays two types of National Insurance contributions:

• Class 2 if your profits are £6,475 or more a year
• Class 4 if your profits are £9,501 or more a year

Most people pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance through self-assessment.

However if, like me, you have a nice steady small income from self-employment which never reached the base threshold for Class 2, it was more than a little difficult to see how you could pay contributions on a voluntary basis.

I knew that, although I had retired early, I was either at or very close to the maximum number of years for the State Pension. Initially I could never see the benefit of paying additional contributions as I thought I had enough years paid in already.

Then two things happened which CHANGED MY MIND!

NEW: How to spot art scams and fraud

I have a new page about "How to spot art scams and fraud" on my Art Business Info for Artists website. 

I can't think for the life of me think why I haven't created this before.

After all, one of the frequently asked questions by artists is "Is this a scam?" - and our ever-increasing familiarity with what scammers try on somehow does not stop them trying!

On the page you will find summaries and links to relevant information relating to:

• What are art scams and frauds
• Websites which "out" scams and frauds
• How to spot a fake website - which has implications for the content of an artist's website
• How to spot fake goods or services

​Intellectual property crime is committed when someone manufactures, sells or distributes counterfeit or pirated goods, such as such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs or literary and artistic works, for commercial gain.

• How to spot - and avoid - an email scam
• ​How to be safe when paying for goods or services online​

This includes "red flags" for things to watch out for - and how to avoid being scammed - which are generally pretty simple precautions you can take.

extract from the page

It's very definitely a page which will develop over time.  You can find it as shown below

• Art Business Info for Artists
• Practice
• Office Practice & Law for Artists
• How to spot art scams and fraud

Or just put "art scams" or "fraud" into the Google search box on the home page

I've also got three more related pages planned and in the pipeline about:

• How to spot fake art - more for the collector than the artist but also highlights art practices best avoided!
• What to do about a gallery which goes "rogue"- this is the one about 
• when the gallery doesn't pay up after selling your artwork and/or 
• art galleries / dealers trading while insolvent
• goes bust - with your artwork still inside and 
• what to do about it!
• ​Beware of money laundering - the latter is increasingly problematic and now rates as a "must know about" topic for all those who sell art as the UK enacted NEW legislation last month relating to money laundering - related to the EU's new fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Art dealers can face fines and jail time if they don’t report suspected money laundering transactions to authorities, according to guidance prepared by the British Art Market Federation in conjunction with the U.K. government. Bloomberg Tax

There's a few references below relating to the new legislation on money laundering.

• Can the art world clean up its act? | Financial Times
• New money laundering regulations cause confusion at London Art Fair The Art Newspaper - Mid-market galleries take a mixed approach to new law, with some pricing works below the €10,000 threshold to avoid dealing with new client ID requirements
• Last-Minute U.K. Law to Stop Money Laundering Frustrates British Art Dealers | Art News

If anybody has any suggestions for useful websites or other resources please let me know (or via my Facebook Page)  and I'll add them in