23 May 2016
Criminal Finance Bill: legislative action to back up political commitments
One of the questions following the Anti-Corruption Summit and the media furore over the Panama Papers was whether legislative proposals (and related law enforcement resources) would be delivered to underpin high level political commitments. Seeming to answer this the Queen’s Speech confirmed that a Criminal Finance Bill will be presented to tackle corruption, money laundering and tax evasion - key commitments from the Summit.
25 April 2016
Home Office desire for new anti-money laundering powers ahead of Anti-Corruption Summit
With just over two weeks to go until the Prime Minister’s Global Anti-Corruption Summit, the Home Office announced plans on 21 April to make the UK a more hostile environment for people seeking to move, hide or use the proceeds of crime or corruption.
24 March 2016
Tackling Tax Evasion – Finance Bill establishes new criminal offence
The Finance Bill 2016 published today, 24 March 2016, confirms the Chancellor’s commitments to crack down on all forms of tax evasion, avoidance and aggressive tax planning as set out in the Budget 2016. A key part of the comprehensive package of measures are new proposals to tackle off-shore evasion using both civil and criminal means. These stem from a series of consultation under the banner of “No Safe Havens”. In particular, the HMRC departmental plan 2015-20 focuses on increasing the number of criminal prosecutions relating to serious and complex tax crime.
22 March 2016
What the Budget means for tax avoidance
One of the key themes of the chancellor’s Budget 2016 was the continued commitment to cracking down on all forms of tax evasion, avoidance, aggressive tax planning and non-compliance including “tackling the hidden economy”. Reflecting on the £100bn additional tax revenue secured in the last parliament by HMRC, the chancellor stated that this budget “goes further” introducing a comprehensive package of measures - See more at: http://economia.icaew.com/opinion/march-2016/what-the-budget-means-for-tax-avoidance#sthash.t232TBKu.dpuf
10 February 2016
New Fraud Taskforce - A step in the fight against fraud or political posturing?
Today saw the announcement by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, of a new Joint Fraud Taskforce. The Taskforce has gathered organisations hailing from the public, private, and non-profit sector in the interests of fighting fraud more effectively.