HMRC and corporate investigations: criminal tax prosecution risks
Published on 24th Jul 2020
Companies need increasingly to ensure that their tax arrangements are compliant as HMRC exerts new powers and exercises closer scrutiny on corporate activity.
If there was any doubt that HMRC is serious in enforcing new offences, recent figures show it had nine live investigations and a further 21 opportunities across 10 business sectors at the start of the year.
Jeremy Summers, head of Osborne Clarke's Business Crime Unit, and Ian Hyde, head of Osborne Clarke’s tax dispute practice, recently engaged in a broad discussion on recent developments relating to HMRC and corporate tax investigations.
Discussing criminal tax prosecution risks arising in the course of tax disputes, they covered: how tax evasion is prosecuted; the connection between tax evasion and money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act; and, in the event of a possible breach of the Criminal Finance Act, how general counsels should approach Deferred Prosecution Agreements.
