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.
The principal tax fraud offences are:
fraudulent...
To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.
**Trials are provided to all LexisNexis content, excluding Practice Compliance, Practice Management and Risk and Compliance, subscription packages are tailored to your specific needs. To discuss trialling these LexisNexis services please email customer service via our online form. Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK, Ireland and selected UK overseas territories and Caribbean countries. We may terminate this trial at any time or decide not to give a trial, for any reason. Trial includes one question to LexisAsk during the length of the trial.
The Cabinet Office, together with the AI Security Institute, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and...
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published the government’s response to Part 1 and 2 of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. The response...
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued General Licence INT/2026/10050568 under 26 UK autonomous sanctions regulations. The...
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced measures to increase court capacity and reduce delays, including a pilot allowing cases to be transferred...
BlackmailThe offenceA 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 with menaces. A demand with menaces is unwarranted unless the person making it does so in the belief that:•they have
Conspiracy to defraudOffence of conspiracy to defraudConspiracy to defraud is a common law offence which was expressly preserved by section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (CLA 1977) and is triable only on indictment.The offence requires that two or more individuals conspire dishonestly to commit
ForgeryOffence of making a false instrumentA person is guilty of forgery under section 1 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (FCA 1981) if they make a false instrument, with the intention that they or another uses it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting
BurglaryBurglaryIn 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 indictmentUnder the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (MCA 1980), there are some categories of burglary that can only be tried on the Crown
0330 161 1234