HMRC has published its April 2025 Trusts and Estates Newsletter, announcing fundamental changes to UK tax frameworks, effective from 6 April 2025. The reforms replace domicile-based taxation with residence-based systems for inheritance tax and foreign income.

HM Revenues & Customs (HMRC) has added 68 unlawful estate agents to the list of named businesses not complying with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/692, and has issued fines of more than £500,000. The fines follow the first prosecution of an estate agent for trading despite not registering with HMRC. Felix Uwuigbe, the Director of Century House Estates Ltd in London, was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid community service and has been banned from acting as an estate agent for two years after he was convicted of trading for three months while unregistered.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that a network of corrupt company directors has been jailed for more than 70 years after they were caught planning a multi-million-pound VAT fraud during secret meetings. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has also confirmed the sentences of 20 individuals linked to the scheme. The fraud centred on Winnington Networks Ltd (WNL), which understated VAT owed between 2011 and 2014 using fake Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) trades.

HMRC and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have launched a 12-week consultation on electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) proposals for UK businesses and the public sector. The consultation seeks views on standardising e-invoicing and increasing its adoption, with the aim of cutting paperwork, improving productivity, and helping businesses get tax right first time. It explores different e-invoicing models, potential mandated or voluntary approaches, and the scope of implementation. The initiative forms part of the Prime Minister's Plan for Change for a tax system supporting economic growth. Consultation closes on 7 May 2025.

HMRC and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have published the outcome of their joint consultation on promoting electronic invoicing across UK businesses and the public sector. Following the consultation, the government announced at Budget 2025 that mandatory e-invoicing for all VAT invoices will be introduced from 2029, with a roadmap to be published at Budget 2026. The departments will begin detailed stakeholder engagement in January 2026 to develop the VAT e-invoicing regime, collaborating closely with businesses, representative bodies, tax professionals, and software providers.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced changes to the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy bands and charges, effective from the financial year beginning April 2026. The measures restructure the existing band system by splitting the previous large band into two new bands: Band B for entities with UK revenue between £36m and £500m (levy of £36,000) and Band C for entities with UK revenue between £500m and £1bn (levy of £500,000). The remaining bands are renamed as A and D, with Band A levy increasing from £10,000 to £10,200 and Band D levy rising from £500,000 to £1m. The changes affect entities regulated for anti-money laundering purposes under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulation 2017 with annual UK revenue exceeding £10.2m. Implementation requires amendment to section 54(2) of the Finance Act 2022, with first payments due before 30 September 2027. The measure was announced at Budget 2025 and aims to increase funding for economic crime initiatives while maintaining the policy objective that no business pays more than 0.1% of their revenue.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced that four men have been jailed for laundering £23.4 million of criminal cash into cryptocurrency between January 2018 and June 2020. The men received a combined sentence of 27 years following an HMRC investigation and prosecution by the Crown Prosecution Service. Michael Konnor and Shiraz Khan controlled the money laundering operation, while John Geddes and Carlos Zapata assisted by moving cash and providing links to criminal groups. The group used personal and business bank accounts to launder criminal proceeds before transferring funds to third-party cryptocurrency traders. HMRC states that more than £27 million passed through accounts controlled by the group, with £19.1 million transferred to cryptocurrency traders. Three of the men were convicted following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, while Konnor pleaded guilty during the proceedings. HMRC has launched proceedings to recover the proceeds of crime.

HMRC has announced the convictions of Javed Ahmad and Kenneth Scott in two separate financial crime cases. Javed Ahmad, who fled during his 2018 trial, has been extradited from the Netherlands and jailed for five-and-a-half years for money laundering £3.5m through structured bank deposits. Separately, accountant Kenneth Scott received a four-year sentence and ten-year director disqualification for orchestrating a £1.7m tax fraud scheme. HMRC is pursuing asset recovery in both cases.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced a campaign requiring informal money transfer services, including Hawala, to register for anti-money laundering (AML) supervision by 31 March 2025. The initiative follows joint visits with the National Crime Agency (NCA) to over 40 premises and aims to address an estimated £2bn in annual money laundering through these networks. Unregistered operators face civil penalties, criminal prosecution and closure.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced the first conviction for encouraging tax fraud on social media platforms. Habeeb Ajaga, a 21-year-old student from London, pleaded guilty on 25 August 2025 to two counts of encouraging or assisting the commission of indictable offences, contrary to section 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 (SCA 2007). Ajaga used two Instagram accounts to promote criminal attacks on VAT systems. HMRC's cybercrime investigators worked with the platform to close his first account in 2022, but he later opened a second account in 2023. HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service traced the accounts to Ajaga and interviewed him under caution in September 2024. Ajaga was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 16 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, on 16 October 2025.

The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), which will provide businesses with a more user-friendly, streamlined system with greater functionality. The HMRC also confirmed that the CDS is replacing the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF). All businesses can now move their export declarations to the CDS and this transition period will run until 4 June 2024. After this date, businesses will not be able to submit customs declarations through the CHIEF service. HMRC will continue to provide help and support to businesses moving to CDS in coming months and continue to work closely with the border industry throughout this process.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published measures to tackle Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) fraud, introducing immediate Gross Payment Status cancellation for businesses knowingly engaging in fraud-connected transactions. The measures, effective from 6 April 2026, will make such businesses liable for lost tax plus 30% penalties applicable to companies and directors, extend GPS reapplication periods from one to five years and require legislative amendments to Finance Act 2004 through Finance Bill 2025-26.