The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government has issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. This Practice Note is based on the final legislation and guidance. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. The Law Society has also published Criminal Finances Act 2017 guidance for law firms, which was approved by the Chancellor on 21 November 2018. According to the Law Society, the Chancellor considers that its guidance is consistent with the Government guidance for the corporate offences of failure to prevent the criminal facilitation

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government has also issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. This Practice Note is based on the legislation and guidance. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. The government recognises that any regime which is risk-based and proportionate cannot be a zero-failure regime. If you can demonstrate you have put in place reasonable prevention procedures that identify and mitigate your tax evasion facilitation risks, prosecution is unlikely as you will be able to raise a statutory defence. The Law Society has

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government also issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. This Practice Note is based on the final legislation and guidance. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. The Law Society has also published Criminal Finances Act 2017 guidance for law firms, which was approved by the chancellor on 21 November 2018. According to the Law Society, the chancellor considers that its guidance is consistent with the Government guidance for the corporate offences of failure to prevent the criminal

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government also issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. This Practice Note covers the requirement for organisations to monitor and review their prevention procedures and make improvements where necessary. It incorporates government guidance as appropriate. The offences and defence There are two potential offences, depending on whether the tax evaded is owed in the UK or in a foreign country. Each offence has three core ingredients, all of which must exist for criminal liability

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government has issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. This Practice Note is based on the final legislation and guidance. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. The Law Society has also published Criminal Finances Act 2017 guidance for law firms, which was approved by the Chancellor on 21 November 2018. According to the Law Society, the Chancellor considers that its guidance is consistent with the Government guidance for the corporate offences of failure to prevent the criminal facilitation

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) introduced a corporate offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion, which came into force on 30 September 2017. The government has issued guidance which sets out its expectations on compliance systems. This Practice Note is based on the final legislation and guidance. The government guidance should be considered and applied in a risk-based and proportionate way. This includes taking account of the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small organisation and a large multinational organisation may implement the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a small business in a low-risk sector may be entirely unreasonable for a large business in a high-risk sector. The top-level management of an organisation should be committed to preventing persons acting in the capacity of a person associated with it from engaging in criminal facilitation of tax evasion. They should foster a culture within the organisation in which tax evasion facilitation is never acceptable. The offences and defence There are two potential offences,

The Home Office has published guidance on the corporate 'failure to prevent fraud' criminal offence which was created by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Alongside an impact assessment, the guidance, which is designed to advise organisations on how they can prevent fraud, includes an overview of the offence, recommends reasonable prevention procedures and addresses overlaps with existing legislation and regulatory regimes. The Home Office also confirmed that the failure to prevent fraud offence is scheduled to come into force on 1 September 2025.

Corporate Crime analysis: In the first instalment of this three-part series on the new corporate criminal offence of failing to prevent fraud, Aziz Rahman of Rahman Ravelli examines the scope of the offence and provides practical tips for investigations into suspected offences which businesses and lawyers should consider, before the offence comes into force on 1 September 2025.

Corporate Crime analysis: Following a wait of nearly 12 months since the failure to prevent fraud (FTPF) offence was enacted, the government has now issued the statutory guidance on the procedures which companies are expected to implement for the purpose of preventing the relevant underlying fraudulent conduct by persons associated with them and, where such conduct occurs, providing a potential defence to the offence . Written by John Binns and Alexander Gorst at BCL Solicitors LLP.

Corporate Crime analysis: While previous failure to prevent offences—bribery and tax evasion—have resulted in few prosecutions so far, they have arguably influenced a corporate compliance culture in the UK. In this third and last part of our series on the corporate offence of failure to prevent fraud, Aziz Rahman of Rahman Ravelli assesses the effectiveness of failure to prevent offences in holding corporate bodies to account for economic crime.

This Practice Note explores the offence of failure to prevent fraud under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023). ECCTA 2023 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 and was brought into force on 1 September 2025 by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Commencement No 4) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/349 (see: LNB News 17/03/2025 1). This Practice Note explains the elements of the offence and its scope while comparing it with the other corporate failure to prevent offences for bribery and the facilitation of tax evasion. It also considers the defence of having reasonable procedures in place to prevent fraud and what companies are required to include in its fraud prevention framework in order to rely on this defence. The government has published statutory guidance on the offence which provides advice to large organisations on the procedures to be put in place to prevent fraud. This guidance is key reading for anyone advising on this area and it can be accessed here. Failure to prevent fraud offence ECCTA 2023,

Corporate Crime analysis: The failure to prevent fraud offence under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) can be viewed as a compliance test for the corporate world. To avoid prosecution, companies will have to show that they had done whatever was proportionate to remove the specific risk of fraud facing the company. In this second part of our series, Aziz Rahman of Rahman Ravelli examines the scope of the reasonable procedures defence, explores the compliance challenges it poses, and highlights common pitfalls. He also emphasises the vital role of ongoing monitoring and review for companies seeking to mitigate fraud risks and strengthen their position should prosecution arise.