AML Employer Verification

We will check the status of the company with Companies House and contact you if any further documentation is required.

You’re classed as a sole trader if:

• you run your own business as an individual and are self-employed
• you pay tax through Self Assessment
• you keep all your business’s profits after you’ve paid tax on them 
• you’re personally responsible for any losses your business makes.

In a partnership, you and your partner (or partners) personally share responsibility for your business. This includes:

• any losses your business makes
• bills for things you buy for your business, like stock or equipment.

Partners share the business’s profits, and each partner pays tax on their share.

A partner doesn’t have to be an actual person. For example, a limited company counts as a ‘legal person’ and can also be a partner.

If your business partnership is a limited partnership or a limited liability partnership, we will check the status of your company with Companies House and contact you if further documentation is required.

If your employer operates as a sole trader and will be contributing to your pension, you can instruct your employer contribution online. We also require the following documents:

• a letter from HMRC confirming the employer's registration number, and
• a payslip dated within the last three months, or a letter from the accountant confirming you’re employed by the business.

If you’re employed by a partnership who will be contributing to your pension, you can instruct your employer contribution online. We also require the following documents:

• a letter from HMRC confirming the employer's registration number, and
• a payslip dated within the last three months, or a letter from the accountant confirming you’re employed by the business.

We can accept personal pension contributions paid from a business bank account but might need you to send us additional documents to allow us to verify your business. Alternatively, you may find it easier to make any personal contributions from a personal bank account.

To make a personal contribution to your pension from your business bank account, you need to complete the ‘Third party SIPP top-up form’, which you can download from the ‘Payments from a third party or employer’ tab which you’ll find at fidelity.co.uk/forms/sipp

If the business bank account name contains your full name or initials in the ‘trading as’ name, for example John Smith trading as John Smith’s Bakery, or JS Bakery, we won’t need anything further.

If the business bank account doesn't include your full name or initials in the ‘trading as’ name, for example John Smith trades as ‘John’s Flowers’, you’ll need to send us a letter from an accountant, on their letterhead, confirming you operate a business as a sole trader and listing your ‘trading as’ name.

We can accept personal pension contributions paid from a business bank account but might need you to send us additional documents to allow us to verify your business. Alternatively, you may find it easier to make any personal contributions from a personal bank account.

To make a personal contribution to your pension from a partnership bank account, you need to complete the ‘Third party SIPP top-up form’, which you can download from the ‘Payments from a third party or employer’ tab which you’ll find at fidelity.co.uk/forms/sipp. You’ll also need to send us either the original or a certified copy of the partnership deed.

If no partnership deed is available, then please provide all the following:

• A list of all partners. 
• Confirmation from an accountant, on the letterhead, that no partnership deed is available.
• Proof of the partnership HMRC registration.
• A copy of the partnership bank statement dated within the last three months.
• Proof of identity and residential address for all partners. Please see and complete the ‘Confirmation of identity and residential address’ form.

We can accept employer contributions from overseas employers, provided the payment is made in pounds sterling and we can verify the employer. We can only accept Direct Debit contributions if the payment is coming from a UK bank account.

To verify the employer we need to know whether they are registered on an overseas register and what their relevant registration number is. If they’re not registered on an overseas register, you’ll need to contact us to provide further information.

We will check the status of the charity on the Charity Register and contact you if any further documentation is required.

Your documents can be certified by any authorised person who is not a member of your immediate family, has had sight of the original documents and has confirmed that any photocopies are genuine copies of the original.

We accept copies certified by:

• a member of staff/intermediary of a regulated financial services business such as a bank manager or financial adviser
• a barrister, solicitor, or notary public
• a judge or magistrate
• a chartered accountant
• a police or customs officer
• a medical GP, dentist
• a teacher
• the Post Office Document Certification Service
• a Fidelity member of staff.

If the certifier is from outside the UK, then the following may also certify:

• an embassy or consulate staff member
• an official government agency staff member
• a general register office staff member
• a director or manager from a regulated financial services business or police department.

Please ask the certifier to write the following on each sheet: ’I have seen the original document, and I certify this to be a true copy of the original.’

Please send the original or certified copies to Fidelity, PO Box 391, Tadworth, KT20 9FU.