Confirmation of Payee is an industry-wide initiative which was introduced across over 400 UK payment service providers. It helps you and your customers avoid paying the wrong account, either by mistake or as a result of a scam.
When you pay someone’s account, Confirmation of Payee checks the account details you add against the details held by the account you’re paying. These details are: the account number, the sort code, the account type (either business or personal) and the name registered to that account.
It’ll then let you know whether the account details you added are the same as those linked to the account you’re paying. This helps you to avoid paying the wrong account by mistake, such as by mistyping a number in the sort code.
It also helps you to avoid paying money to a fraudulent account. Scammers will often pretend to be someone they’re not, and provide an account for you to pay under the false details they’ve provided you. Confirmation of Payee checks these details and alerts you if there’s a mismatch.
This also applies for payments being made to your account. It helps you get paid more reliably by protecting against payments being made to the wrong account in error.
NFE is a term that’s commonly used in the context of tax compliance – usually in relation to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
What is an Active NFE?
An Active NFE earns a significant portion of its income from manufacturing, sales, providing services, or anything else that can be considered ‘active business operations’.
Active NFEs get more than 50% of their gross income from active trade or business, or have more than 50% of their assets in operational business activities that generate income.
What is a Passive NFE?
A Passive NFE gets more than 50% of its earnings as passive income – from interest, rents, dividends, and royalties.
There are different reporting requirements under FATCA and CRS, depending on whether a company is an Active or a Passive NFE. Understanding the difference between the two company types is crucial for international tax compliance.
