First Insight into HMRC’s use of Corporate Criminal Offences Powers
Change your attitudes towards preventing tax evasion or suffer the consequences. That was the very strong message intended by the government when new Corporate Criminal Offences (CCO) Powers for HMRC were announced in the March 2015 Budget. As such, since 30th September 2017, it has been a crime for corporations to fail to put in place reasonable procedures to prevent associated persons (those acting for or on their behalf) from criminally facilitating tax evasion. With unlimited fines and the reputational damage entailed from a finding of guilt, this was a significant new power.
Nearly 2½ years later, HMRC have announced that it has 9 live CCO investigations with a further 21 “opportunities” under review across 10 different business sectors, including financial services, oils, construction, labour provision and software development. It has further confirmed that these sit across all HMRC customer groups from small business through to some of the UK’s largest organisations.
Going forward, HMRC intends to update this information biannually.
Return to Listings
Our Insights
The End is Nigh for the Non-Dom Regime
Published in ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client Magazine, Helen McGhee expert analysis of the current state of non-dom tax regime and it's future.
Increased Investment in Personal Tax Compliance in the UK (Published in Thought Leaders 4 Private Client)
Advances in technology and increased international fiscal co-operation have made global personal tax compliance initiatives pop up in abundance in recent years. To compound the issue, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding economic fallout prompted domestic governments to increase transparency in relation to investments held by wealthy foreign individuals (with a focus on oligarchs).
In the UK, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, public opinion certainly seems to be in favour of increased accountability for high-net-worth individuals (eg, on 9 October 2022, 63% of Britons surveyed thought that “the rich are not paying enough and their taxes should be increased”).1
HMRC is one of the most sophisticated tax collection authorities in the world and the department is making significant investments in technology in the field of compliance work; they are well placed to take advantage of new international efforts to increase tax compliance, particularly considering the already extensive network of 130 bilateral tax treaties in the UK (the largest in the world).2 The UK was also a founding member of the OECD’s Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) forum.
This article discusses the main developments in support of the increased focus on international transparency and personal tax compliance in the UK. There are other international fiscal initiatives, particularly in the field of corporate taxation, but such initiatives are beyond the scope of this article.
It should be noted that a somewhat piecemeal approach, with constant tinkering makes compliance difficult for the taxpayer and is often criticised for lacking the certainty that a stable tax system needs to thrive.
This article was first published with ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client Magazine
