Raids on properties carried out as part of HMRC’s criminal investigations increased by 28% in 2015/16. HMRC was granted warrants to search 761 properties in pursuit evidence to secure prosecutions for tax evasion. According to Pinsent Masons, this is a 53% increase on the figure five years ago and the upward trend is set to continue, as HMRC ‘is increasingly pushing to treat what would previously have been seen as aggressive tax avoidance as tax evasion’.
Automatic exchange of tax information will provide a further incentive. Paul Noble, tax director at Pinsent Masons, warned that ‘with more information sharing between multiple jurisdictions now on the horizon, HMRC is going to be able to make an even stronger case for being granted search warrants in more cases’.
Another factor likely to accelerate the process is the proposed corporate criminal offence for failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion. Paul Noble added: ‘The new corporate offence will add another dimension. Companies will be a target in themselves in terms of what they knew about suspected criminal activity by those working for them and what they did or didn’t do to prevent it.’
Raids on properties carried out as part of HMRC’s criminal investigations increased by 28% in 2015/16. HMRC was granted warrants to search 761 properties in pursuit evidence to secure prosecutions for tax evasion. According to Pinsent Masons, this is a 53% increase on the figure five years ago and the upward trend is set to continue, as HMRC ‘is increasingly pushing to treat what would previously have been seen as aggressive tax avoidance as tax evasion’.
Automatic exchange of tax information will provide a further incentive. Paul Noble, tax director at Pinsent Masons, warned that ‘with more information sharing between multiple jurisdictions now on the horizon, HMRC is going to be able to make an even stronger case for being granted search warrants in more cases’.
Another factor likely to accelerate the process is the proposed corporate criminal offence for failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion. Paul Noble added: ‘The new corporate offence will add another dimension. Companies will be a target in themselves in terms of what they knew about suspected criminal activity by those working for them and what they did or didn’t do to prevent it.’
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