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...
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...
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 set out in HMRC’s 2014 No Safe Havens. Its general aims were that: • there are no...
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...
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...
HMRC can investigate suspected tax-related criminal offences in England and Wales using the powers, and subject to the safeguards, in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act...
HMRC's information powers in Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008 (FA 2008) (see Practice Note: HMRC information powers) are supplemented by data-gathering powers in...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: HMRC is reviewing its Sch 36 information powers in light of changes in the way businesses work, and the increased number of requests for information...
HMRC's powers to check a person's tax position are in Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008. The powers enable HMRC to: • obtain documents and information, and • inspect...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Following a consultation by HMRC which ran from 19 February 2018 to 14 May 2018, the government has included legislation in the Finance Bill 2019 to...
Introduction of new strict liability offences for offshore tax evaders The government’s strategy for tackling offshore tax evasion was set out in HMRC’s 2014 No Safe...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 6 July 2018, draft legislation was published for inclusion in Finance Bill 2019 to extend the tax assessment time limit (during which HMRC may...
Self-reporting is the process by which a business can report to law enforcement agencies upon its discovery of financial or other wrongdoing within the business, with a...