The name or number held by the AML supervisor does not match the Companies House record, so the application is rejected. Treating an ordinary AML customer due diligence check as meeting the Companies House standard without checking every step. Losing evidence of a check. Companies House can suspend or end ACSP status if records cannot be produced, and people verified by the firm may have to verify again. Missing the 14 day deadline to report a change, such as a new supervisor after a firm merger. Assuming ACSP registration is already needed for routine filing. It is not yet, although the November 2027 date should be built into planning. Company directors can protect the business against the cost of an HMRC check with tax investigation insurance, which pays up to £100,000 of accountant's fees with Solar Protect. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

Authorised corporate service providers

Q: How does a firm apply?

Choose the applicant. Section 1098D requires an application for a firm to be made by a relevant officer: a director of a company, a member of an LLP or other member managed body, a general partner of a limited partnership, or a partner. A sole trader applies for themselves. Verify your own identity. The person applying must already have verified with Companies House, or will be asked to do so first. Give the business details. A company or LLP gives its number, authentication code, correspondence address and email address. Give the AML details. Name each supervisory body and the membership or firm number. Companies House checks that the supervisor holds the same name and number, and rejects the application if they do not match. Accept the legal responsibilities. The applicant confirms the firm will meet the ongoing duties below. Companies House publishes a list of ACSPs that ask to be included. It always publishes the name, status and date of any ACSP that is suspended or ceases.

An authorised corporate service provider (ACSP), also called a Companies House authorised agent, is an anti money laundering supervised business that Companies House has registered under section 1098B of the Companies Act 2006. Today a firm needs to register only if it wants to verify people’s identities for Companies House; Companies House plans to require every third party agent that files for clients to be an ACSP from no earlier than November 2027, with at least six months’ notice.

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What is an authorised corporate service provider?

Section 1098A defines an ACSP as a person whose application to the registrar has been granted and whose status has not ceased or been suspended. Sections 1098A to 1098H were inserted by section 66 of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and came fully into force on 18 March 2025, when Companies House began accepting applications. The wider reforms are summarised in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act explained.

An ACSP can be a limited company, an LLP, a partnership or other body, or a sole trader. Companies House gives company formation agents, solicitors and accountants as typical examples. ACSP status is separate from, but built on, a firm’s registration with its AML supervisor as a trust or company service provider, which is covered in trust and company service providers.

Who has to register, and when?

Companies House guidance currently says only agents that plan to verify the identity of clients for Companies House need to register. In the future all agents that file on behalf of clients will need to register. The timetable is:

Now. Register if you want to verify directors’, PSCs’ or other individuals’ identities and send Companies House a verification statement for them.
No earlier than November 2026. Companies House says registered ACSPs will be able to file on behalf of clients as an authorised agent.
No earlier than November 2027. The transition plan says presenters will have to be verified and third party agents filing for companies will have to be registered ACSPs.

The legal basis for the filing requirement is section 1067A, which lists who may deliver documents for a firm or individual and includes an ACSP and its officers and employees. That section is so far in force only for making regulations. Separately, the government’s limited partnership factsheet says applications to register a limited partnership and its confirmation statements will have to be filed through an ACSP once the limited partnership reforms start.

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Who is eligible?

Under section 1098B an applicant must be a “relevant person” under regulation 8(1) of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which in practice means a business within the scope of the Regulations and supervised by an AML supervisory authority. An individual applicant must have verified their own identity. The registrar must check with the named supervisor that the applicant is known to and supervised by it, and must refuse the application if the applicant does not appear to be fit and proper.

Companies House’s fit and proper guidance says the registrar may consider eligibility and competence, including whether a connected company is being struck off or is insolvent; criminal, regulatory and financial history such as bankruptcy or director disqualification; honesty and integrity, including false filings or ignoring queries; and the firm’s own record of filing with Companies House. A clean AML supervision record does not automatically satisfy the test.

How does a firm apply?

Choose the applicant. Section 1098D requires an application for a firm to be made by a relevant officer: a director of a company, a member of an LLP or other member managed body, a general partner of a limited partnership, or a partner. A sole trader applies for themselves.
Verify your own identity. The person applying must already have verified with Companies House, or will be asked to do so first.
Give the business details. A company or LLP gives its number, authentication code, correspondence address and email address.
Give the AML details. Name each supervisory body and the membership or firm number. Companies House checks that the supervisor holds the same name and number, and rejects the application if they do not match.
Accept the legal responsibilities. The applicant confirms the firm will meet the ongoing duties below.

Companies House publishes a list of ACSPs that ask to be included. It always publishes the name, status and date of any ACSP that is suspended or ceases.

What must an ACSP do once registered?

Stay registered with at least one UK AML supervisor. Under section 1098F a person automatically ceases to be an ACSP if it stops being a relevant person under the Money Laundering Regulations.
Tell Companies House about any change to the information it holds within 14 days. For a change of supervisor this duty is in section 1098E, and failing to comply without reasonable excuse is an offence by the firm and every officer in default.
Provide information about its filings and identity checks if Companies House asks.
Keep records of every identity check, including copies of the documents, for 7 years from the date of the check.

Companies House says that for a business ACSP all officers, meaning all directors or their equivalent, are responsible for compliance. Staff are added as users of the agent account under their own GOV.UK One Login; the guidance tells firms not to share login details.

How does an ACSP verify someone’s identity?

The checks must meet the Companies House identity verification standard, which is a separate standard from customer due diligence under the Money Laundering Regulations. The ACSP collects the person’s full and former names, date of birth, home address, 12 months of address history and email address, then checks documents in one of two ways:

Option 1: identification document validation technology (IDVT) validates the cryptographic and physical security features of one photographic document, such as a biometric passport or photocard driving licence.
Option 2: a person checks two documents, either two photographic documents from Companies House’s group A, or one from group A and one from group B, such as a birth certificate. Someone who does not live in the UK must provide at least one government issued document.

A commercial provider can do the checks, but the ACSP must be satisfied, and able to evidence, that every step of the standard was completed. The ACSP then uses the “Tell Companies House you’ve verified someone’s identity” service. Under section 1110A the verification statement names the ACSP’s AML supervisor. Companies House emails the individual an 11 character personal code, which they use to link the verification to their roles, as explained in Companies House identity verification.

How might this work in a practice?

Illustration only.

A three partner accountancy firm supervised by its professional body has 60 limited company clients, many with directors who struggled with the GOV.UK One Login app. A partner verifies their own identity, applies as a partner of the firm, and adds two staff as standard users. For each client director the firm runs an IDVT check, confirms the outcome meets the standard, submits the verification statement and files the evidence so it can be produced for 7 years. When the director’s personal code arrives by email, the firm includes it in the client’s next confirmation statement.

What goes wrong?

The name or number held by the AML supervisor does not match the Companies House record, so the application is rejected.
Treating an ordinary AML customer due diligence check as meeting the Companies House standard without checking every step.
Losing evidence of a check. Companies House can suspend or end ACSP status if records cannot be produced, and people verified by the firm may have to verify again.
Missing the 14 day deadline to report a change, such as a new supervisor after a firm merger.
Assuming ACSP registration is already needed for routine filing. It is not yet, although the November 2027 date should be built into planning.

Company directors can protect the business against the cost of an HMRC check with tax investigation insurance, which pays up to £100,000 of accountant’s fees with Solar Protect. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

Related Accountapedia entries

Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.