The offence of aggravated vehicle-taking A person is guilty of aggravated vehicle taking if: • they take a conveyance without the owner's or other lawful authority's...
As of exit day (31 January 2020) the UK is no longer an EU Member State. However, in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK has entered an implementation...
The offence A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for themselves or another or with intent to cause loss to another, they make any unwarranted demand...
What is a boiler room fraud? Boiler rooms are the names ascribed to high pressure sales environments. The idea is that the sales environment creates the pressure of a...
Burglary In most cases burglary is an either-way offence and so it can be tried in the magistrates' court or the Crown Court. Burglary triable only on indictment Under...
Offence of cheating the public revenue The offence of cheating the public revenue is a common law offence triable only on indictment. This means that, where the public...
Civil investigation of tax fraud HMRC’s published policy in respect of tax fraud states that HMRC will seek to use a civil rather than criminal procedure wherever...
Offence of conspiracy to defraud Conspiracy to defraud is a common law offence which was expressly preserved by section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (CLA 1977), and...
The Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA 2017) received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. DEA 2017 implementation is underway with the publication of the Digital Economy Act 2017...
Copyright theft Theft of copyright is criminalised by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994) and the Video...
Making a counterfeit note or coin Section 14 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (FCA 1981), makes an offence for a person to make a counterfeit of a currency note...
Offences relating to untrue declarations etc A person commits an offence under the section 167 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (CEMA 1979) if they knowingly...
ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note is not being maintained. It tracked the passage of the Bill through Parliament to its publication as an Act, and highlighted key...
What is HMRC? HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the administration and collection of taxes, including direct taxes such as income tax and corporation tax;...
Introduction The government’s strategy for tackling offshore tax evasion was initially set out in HMRC’s 2014 No Safe Havens and has been supplemented by HMRC’s No Safe...
This Practice Note discusses the two ‘failure to prevent’ corporate criminal offences created by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017): • CFA 2017, s 45 creates the...
False accounting A person who falsifies or conceals information required for an accounting purpose, knowing that the information is misleading, may commit an offence of...
Offence of making a false instrument A person is guilty of forgery under section 1 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (FCA 1981) if he makes a false instrument,...
Fraud by failure to disclose information while under a legal duty to do so An offence of fraud by failure to disclose is committed where a defendant: • failed to disclose...
Fraud by false representation Fraud by false representation applies to a broader range of conduct than the offences under the preceding legislation (the Theft Act 1968...
Sentences for fraud by false representation A person convicted of fraud by false representation in the Crown Court on indictment faces a maximum penalty of ten years...
Offences of fraudulent evasion of duty—the smuggling offences A person commits an offence under section 170(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (CEMA 1979)...
Offence of fraudulent evasion of income tax Section 106A of the Taxes Management Act 1970 (TMA 1970) provides that a person commits an offence if they are knowingly...
Offence of fraudulent evasion of VAT It is an offence under section 72(1) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) if any person is knowingly concerned in the taking...
Fraudulent trading Fraudulent trading is an offence prohibited by section 993 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). This offence is charged for offences committed on or...
Fraudulent trading under the Fraud Act 2006 A defendant who is a sole trader, in a partnership or a trust, commits the offence of fraudulent trading if they are knowingly...
