Criminal Finance Act

Notes

The Criminal Finances Act 2017

This potentially makes ’relevant bodies' criminally liable if 'associated persons' are involved in tax evasion.

A relevant body is defined by the Act as a company or partnership whether formed in the UK or elsewhere.

An associated person is anyone acting in the capacity of an employee, an agent, or any other person who
 performs services on behalf of the relevant body.

The Offence

Under the Act, an offence will be committed by a relevant body if the following three stages occur:

  1. There is criminal tax evasion by a taxpayer or business under existing tax evasion law.

  2. An associated person of the relevant body facilitated the tax evasion under existing aiding and abetting law.

  3. The relevant body failed to prevent the associated person from committing the aiding and abetting offence

Notes