In this note I discuss the requirements of section 45 and 46 of the Criminal Finance Act 2017, to ensure that UK firms have appropriate systems and controls to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.
Background
The corporate criminal offences penalising the failure to prevent the criminal facilitation of tax evasion came into force on 30 September 2017. Two separate offences are contained within the Criminal Finances Act 2017, ss 45 and 46 ( CFA 2017 ). These are:
- Failure to prevent facilitation of domestic tax evasion offences (section 45).
- Failure to prevent facilitation of overseas tax evasion offences (section 46).
These are strict liability offences, subject to a ‘reasonable procedures’ defence available to those who can prove that they have maintained reasonable procedures intended to prevent the facilitation of the underlying tax evasion offences.
What is the scope of the offence?
If an employee or an agent of a corporate, any corporate, anywhere in the world, facilitates the evasion of UK tax then the…