Are business brokers captured if they only sell the business itself, not the freehold?
Business brokers may have obligations where they facilitate restructuring, transfer of companies or trusts, business sales financing, or nominee or fiduciary roles.
Business brokers may have AML/CTF obligations where they are actively facilitating or implementing certain transactions. This can include work such as assisting with restructuring or transferring companies, trusts or other legal arrangements and the purchase or sale of real property, assisting with business sales or financing transactions, or acting in certain nominee, fiduciary or intermediary roles. The underlying rationale is that these services can be used (or misused) to obscure the origin or ownership of funds or assets.
Importantly, business brokers advising or acting generally on the sale and purchase of business
assets will not be a designated service. Similarly, merely providing ancillary or advisory services such as valuation and strategy advice will not be a designated service. But there are some important checks that will need to be considered before forming this view because in some circumstances the AML/CTF Act's anti-avoidance provisions may be relevant.
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