Investment managers have gained time, but not yet a permanent exclusion from mandatory registration.
The UK’s new mandatory tax adviser registration regime has raised an important question for investment managers: could firms that would not ordinarily regard themselves as tax advisers nevertheless be required to register with HMRC? The answer is potentially yes, including for investment managers based outside the UK.
There is, however, welcome breathing room. HM Treasury has now made regulations – The Finance Act 2026 (Registration of Tax Advisers) (Appointed Days and Transitional Provision) Regulations, SI 2026/807 – confirming that the registration requirement will be deferred until 1 April 2027 for firms carrying on ‘regulated activities’ within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000). We understand that the deferral should apply to investment managers carrying on such activities wherever they are based, including non-UK managers that are not themselves regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The key question now is whether this temporary deferral will ultimately become a permanent exclusion for investment managers and other financial services firms.
Deferral until 1 April 2027: The regulations confirm that HM Treasury has opted to implement the deferral of the registration deadline for what HMRC previously described as ‘financial services firms’ by applying a later deadline to firms which are carrying on ‘regulated activities’ as defined in FSMA 2000 (reg 2). Such firms will now not be required to register before 1 April 2027 (reg 4(5)).
We understand that the deferral will apply to all investment management firms that are carrying on activities which fall within the definition of ‘regulated activities’ in FSMA 2000, wherever in the world the firm might be carrying on those activities. In other words, a US or other non-UK firm carrying on activities of a kind that fall within the FSMA 2000 definition of ‘regulated activities’ will not be required to register before 1 April 2027, even though it is carrying on those activities entirely outside the UK and so is not required to register with, and is not regulated by, the FCA.
Might the deferral become permanent? HMRC have indicated that they intend to use the period before April 2027 to ensure that the registration regime, so far as it applies to financial services firms, is ‘proportionate and workable’ and applies only where intended. We still expect – although this is not guaranteed – that this will mean that firms carrying on ‘regulated activities’ will be excluded from the tax adviser registration regime on a permanent basis.
Managers whose activities comprise only the provision of services to clients which are ‘group undertakings’ in relation to the firm (which may also mean that the manager is exempt from the requirement to register with the FCA on the basis of a group exemption) are already exempt from the requirement to register with HMRC as tax advisers. It seems likely that any permanent exclusion of investment managers from the tax adviser registration regime would be implemented by an expansion of this exemption so as to include managers providing services to group-like clients such as funds, joint ventures, securitisation vehicles, etc. which, while related to the manager, are not within the strict definition of ‘group undertakings’.
Managers will, however, need to continue to monitor developments closely over the coming few months to confirm that what is now cast as a deferral of the registration requirement does indeed turn into a permanent exclusion.
Home >Articles > Tax adviser registration: deferral for investment managers
Tax adviser registration: deferral for investment managers
Investment managers have gained time, but not yet a permanent exclusion from mandatory registration.
The UK’s new mandatory tax adviser registration regime has raised an important question for investment managers: could firms that would not ordinarily regard themselves as tax advisers nevertheless be required to register with HMRC? The answer is potentially yes, including for investment managers based outside the UK.
There is, however, welcome breathing room. HM Treasury has now made regulations – The Finance Act 2026 (Registration of Tax Advisers) (Appointed Days and Transitional Provision) Regulations, SI 2026/807 – confirming that the registration requirement will be deferred until 1 April 2027 for firms carrying on ‘regulated activities’ within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000). We understand that the deferral should apply to investment managers carrying on such activities wherever they are based, including non-UK managers that are not themselves regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The key question now is whether this temporary deferral will ultimately become a permanent exclusion for investment managers and other financial services firms.
Deferral until 1 April 2027: The regulations confirm that HM Treasury has opted to implement the deferral of the registration deadline for what HMRC previously described as ‘financial services firms’ by applying a later deadline to firms which are carrying on ‘regulated activities’ as defined in FSMA 2000 (reg 2). Such firms will now not be required to register before 1 April 2027 (reg 4(5)).
We understand that the deferral will apply to all investment management firms that are carrying on activities which fall within the definition of ‘regulated activities’ in FSMA 2000, wherever in the world the firm might be carrying on those activities. In other words, a US or other non-UK firm carrying on activities of a kind that fall within the FSMA 2000 definition of ‘regulated activities’ will not be required to register before 1 April 2027, even though it is carrying on those activities entirely outside the UK and so is not required to register with, and is not regulated by, the FCA.
Might the deferral become permanent? HMRC have indicated that they intend to use the period before April 2027 to ensure that the registration regime, so far as it applies to financial services firms, is ‘proportionate and workable’ and applies only where intended. We still expect – although this is not guaranteed – that this will mean that firms carrying on ‘regulated activities’ will be excluded from the tax adviser registration regime on a permanent basis.
Managers whose activities comprise only the provision of services to clients which are ‘group undertakings’ in relation to the firm (which may also mean that the manager is exempt from the requirement to register with the FCA on the basis of a group exemption) are already exempt from the requirement to register with HMRC as tax advisers. It seems likely that any permanent exclusion of investment managers from the tax adviser registration regime would be implemented by an expansion of this exemption so as to include managers providing services to group-like clients such as funds, joint ventures, securitisation vehicles, etc. which, while related to the manager, are not within the strict definition of ‘group undertakings’.
Managers will, however, need to continue to monitor developments closely over the coming few months to confirm that what is now cast as a deferral of the registration requirement does indeed turn into a permanent exclusion.
