The Department of Internal Affairs is aiming to provide reporting entities with the same certainty as 2019 around their annual reporting obligations under the AML/CFT Act by extending last year's interim solution to this year.

This exemption is provided while the Ministry of Justice is preparing a public consultation document on a proposed class exemption for corporate trustees that are reporting entities under the AML/CFT Act.

This waiver of the annual report obligation:

• Applies only to corporate trustees that are subsidiaries of a law firm, accounting practice or TCSP that is a reporting entity under the AML/CFT Act in New Zealand.
• Is conditional that the parent law firm, accounting practice or TCSP’s own annual report includes information relating to all relevant activities of the subsidiary corporate trustee.
• Is temporary while the Ministry of Justice considers the corporate trustee class exemption application.
• Applies to Annual Report obligations for the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 only.

The full interim solution can be found here.