The latest corporate law to tackle UK tax evasion

Tax avoidance and evasion has been increasingly problematic in the UK, and remains a political ‘hot topic’ which has yet to be fully addressed by UK governments. As of 30^th September 2017, a new corporate offence will be implemented as a direct result of the growing, high-profile tax scandals in the UK, as a reasonable procedure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. The Corporate Criminal Offence: failure to prevent tax evasion only applies to businesses and does not apply to individuals, as they can already be prosecuted under existing laws.

Ultimately, this will mean that UK businesses will be liable for the actions of an individual acting on its behalf, irrespective if it gains any benefit from the employee’s actions. In its defence, a business will need to show that it put in place reasonable prevention methods to stop the crime or that it is unreasonable to expect to have such procedures in place.

The Corporate Criminal Offence: failure to prevent tax evasion will be implemented on 30th September, 2017

Said procedures have been confirmed by the HMRC in their latest document release, and include the following;

• Risk Assessments or;
• Audits or;
• Due Dilligence or;
• Training for employees or; 
• A common culture whereby the idea of tax evasion and avoidance is completely unacceptable.

For more information on The Corporate Criminal Offence: failure to prevent tax evasion, Datum RPO's latest guide provides an overview of the new legislation, detailed information on the procedures that will need to be put in place, and much more.

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