Remote ID checks for new tax clients with TaxCalc

New Self Assessment clients arrive by recommendation from November to January, and most never visit the office. Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 their identity has to be verified before the business relationship starts, which means chasing passport scans and utility bills or arranging video calls. If a tax adviser takes on 50 new clients a year at 30 minutes each to request, chase, check and file ID, that's 1,500 minutes, 25 hours a year, much of it in the weeks before 31 January.

TaxCalc Biometric ID Checks confirm a client's identity remotely using facial recognition and photo ID matching, and the onboarding check can also collect a second document to confirm address. You send the check to the client from their record in TaxCalc AML Centre or Practice Manager, the client completes it without coming in, and AML Centre records the result as part of the identification stage of client due diligence. TaxCalc's separate AML Identity Checking Service runs electronic checks against Equifax data if you want both. The adviser reviews every result, completes the client risk assessment and decides whether to take the client on; the software doesn't make that decision.

A sole tax adviser in Exeter with about 200 Self Assessment clients takes on 50 new ones a year, mostly by email. They already keep AML records in TaxCalc AML Centre and buy a pack of 50 Biometric ID Checks for the year.

About $74£56€67A$108C$105 a month of adviser time saved, averaged over the year, against about $20£15€18A$29C$28 to $47£35€42A$67C$66 for the software. That's 1,000 minutes a year (1,500 minus 500), about 16.7 hours or 1.4 hours a month, at an assumed $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour. 50 Biometric ID Checks are $233£175€208A$336C$329 a year, about $20£15€18A$29C$28 a month; without AML Centre already, add $318£239€284A$459C$449 a year for up to 250 clients, so $551£414€493A$795C$778 a year, about $47£35€42A$67C$66 a month. VAT is charged on top.

1. 1Record each new client's filing and payment deadlines, such as the 31 January 2027 online filing deadline for 2025 to 2026, in your practice system or diary first, with a second person checking the dates.
2. 2Update your AML policy and privacy notice to say you use biometric ID checks, and offer clients who can't or won't use one another way to prove their identity.
3. 3Buy the bundle of checks that matches your expected new clients, and send yourself a test check before using it with a client.
4. 4For each new client, send the check from their record, then review the result yourself, complete the risk assessment and record your decision before starting work.
5. 5Keep your own list of checks sent and completed, look at it every day in December and January, and phone any client whose check isn't done.

• The request to the client can land in spam or sit unopened, and nothing warns you as the date gets close. The deadline lives in your practice system, not in the check, so look at your list of outstanding checks daily near 31 January.
• Facial images used to identify someone are special category biometric data under UK GDPR. Explain the check in your privacy notice and keep a non-biometric route for clients who object.
• An ID check is one part of customer due diligence. You still assess risk, check for anything unusual and follow your AML supervisor's guidance, whether that's HMRC or your professional body.
• Checks are bought in annual bundles and unused ones don't carry over, so don't buy 100 for a year in which you take on 40 clients.