T: 01332 380691
Ashgates - Accountants and Business Advisors based in Derby
  • Who We are
    • Reviews
    • Charity work >
      • 40 Something Challenge
    • Careers
    • Our Values
  • The Team
  • What we do
    • Accountancy Services >
      • Accounts
      • Audit
      • Bookkeeping, VAT & Management Accounts
      • Business Start-up Advice
      • Business Plans & Cashflow Forecasting
      • Company Secretarial
      • Payroll
      • Tax
    • Corporate Finance
    • Financial Services
    • HR Services
    • IT Services
    • Financial Software >
      • Sage
      • Xero
    • Sports Professionals
  • News
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Spring Statement 2022
    • COVID-19 Hub
  • Who We are
    • Reviews
    • Charity work >
      • 40 Something Challenge
    • Careers
    • Our Values
  • The Team
  • What we do
    • Accountancy Services >
      • Accounts
      • Audit
      • Bookkeeping, VAT & Management Accounts
      • Business Start-up Advice
      • Business Plans & Cashflow Forecasting
      • Company Secretarial
      • Payroll
      • Tax
    • Corporate Finance
    • Financial Services
    • HR Services
    • IT Services
    • Financial Software >
      • Sage
      • Xero
    • Sports Professionals
  • News
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Spring Statement 2022
    • COVID-19 Hub

Criminal Finances Act

7/11/2017

 
The Criminal Finances Act 2017 took effect on 30 September 2017. It makes companies and partnerships, a ‘relevant body’, criminally liable if they fail to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion being carried out by an employee, anyone acting on their behalf or someone acting as an agent. If found guilty, the business could face unlimited fines and potentially further consequential sanctions within their industry or profession.
This Act has the effect of creating an offence at corporate and partnership level which does not require the directors/partners to have had any knowledge of the offence in question. Broadly, the offence is the failure to prevent the crimes of those who act for or on behalf of the corporate body or partnership instead of the need to attribute criminal acts to that body.
For a firm to be criminally liable under the new Act, there are three elements of the offence:
  • There must be the execution of a criminal act of tax evasion.
  • The crime must have been facilitated or carried out by a person associated with a relevant body.
  • The relevant body failed to initiate adequate prevention procedures in relation to the act carried out by the associated person.
A defence is available when it can be shown that ‘reasonable prevention procedures’ were in place to prevent the associated person from committing or facilitating the crime; or that it would have been unreasonable or disproportionate to expect such procedures to be in place.
The government advises that any reasonable prevention procedures should be based on six guiding principles:


  1. Risk assessment – the relevant body should assess the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of an associated person committing a criminal act;
  2. Proportionality – the procedures should take into account the nature, scale and complexity of the relevant body’s activities;
  3. Top level commitment – the management of the relevant body should be committed to preventing illegal acts and should foster a culture that tax evasion and its facilitation is never acceptable;
  4. Due Diligence – with appropriate procedures put in place with respect to all people who perform services for the relevant body;
  5. Communication – training staff and ensuring the message effectively gets across to all employees and agents;
  6. Monitoring and reviewing – ensuring that whatever procedures are put into place are regularly reviewed and updated and amended where necessary.
Please contact us if you require further information on this issue.
Internet link: GOV.UK Tackling tax evasion corporate-offence


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    RSS Feed


​Services

Accounts
Audit
Bookkeeping
Business Start-up & Advice
Business Plans & Cashflow Forecasting
Company Secretarial
Corporate Finance
Financial Services
HR Services
IT Services
Management Accounts
Payroll
Sage
Sports Professionals
Tax
Xero


​Company

Who We Are
Client Reviews
Charity Work
Careers
Team Ashgates
Leave us a Review
​Terms of Use
Privacy Notice
​
Staying COVID-19 Secure in 2020
Picture
Tweets by Ashgates

​Website build : Ashgates IT
​
© ASHGATES GROUP 2022. ​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
5 Prospect Place, Millennium Way, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8HG