Tax evasion offences

Tax evasion is a generic term to describe criminal conduct which involves individuals or businesses paying too little tax or wrongly claiming tax repayments by acting wrongly or dishonestly. It encompasses actions designed to deceive or cheat the tax authorities, as well as frauds designed to enrich the fraudsters. It also encompasses the corporate offences of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion by those associated with them. There is a distinction between offences which can be committed by a legal person (substantive tax fraud offences) and offences which can only be committed by a corporate (failure to prevent tax evasion offences).

Tax based fraud or evasion is generally investigated by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The corporate offences will be investigated, where they occur in England and Wales, by HMRC and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Where they occur elsewhere (the foreign tax evasion offence) will be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) or NCA, and prosecuted by the SFO or CPS.