Tax Evasion Archives | Page 16 of 17

Money Laundering News Tax Evasion Thought Leadership
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Are public beneficial ownership registers coming to the Crown Dependencies?

Geurnsey, one of the Crown Dependencies

UK’s Sanctions and AML Act 2018

The UK’s Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act 2018 is a legislative framework that strengthens the country’s ability to implement sanctions and AML measures. The act provides the legal basis for the UK government to impose and enforce sanctions on individuals, entities, and countries deemed to pose a threat to national security or involved in illicit activities. The act expands the powers of the relevant authorities to investigate, prevent, and prosecute money laundering offences and reinforces cooperation and information sharing between public and private sectors.

Impact of UK’s Sanctions and AML Act 2018 on Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories

Impact of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering 2018 Act on the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories

Following an amendment to the recently enacted Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act which will introduce public ownership registers in British Overseas Territories, the amendments sponsors Andrew Mitchell and Dame Margaret Hodge will visit the Isle of Man to persuade the government to create a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership.

Currently, the Manx Government’s central register is only accessible to law enforcement and tax officials, but the UK government is keen for the Crown Dependencies to adopt the approach being set out in the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

British Overseas Territories must adopt public registers of beneficial ownership

A stack of coins with a figurine standing by it

What is a public register of beneficial ownership?

A public register of beneficial ownership is a centralised database or registry that contains information about the individuals or entities that ultimately own or control a company or legal entity. It aims to increase transparency and combat illicit activities such as money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption.

What is a declaration of beneficial ownership?

A declaration of beneficial ownership is a legal document or statement that discloses the individuals or entities who are considered beneficial owners of a company or legal entity. It is a means of providing transparency and fulfilling regulatory requirements in relation to ownership and control.

In the declaration, the company or entity typically identifies and discloses the individuals or entities that have a significant level of ownership or control over the organisation, even if their names do not appear on the official legal documentation. Beneficial owners are those who enjoy the benefits of ownership, such as receiving profits or having control over decision-making, regardless of the legal ownership structure.

Amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill

On 1 May, Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan announced that the government would not oppose a Labour amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill currently going through parliament that will introduce public ownership registers in Britain’s overseas territories.

The 14 overseas territories, including the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, will be forced to introduce the public registers by 2020 or have them imposed by the UK government. The amendment will not apply to the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man as Parliament cannot legislate for them, but Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell who introduced the amendment along with Labour MP Margaret Hodge hoped the crown dependencies would also embrace the registers.

The Paradise Papers – interactive tax havens map

Click on a tax haven to learn more about their risks

What is a tax haven?

A tax haven is a jurisdiction or country that offers individuals and businesses favourable tax laws and regulations, often with low or no taxes on certain types of income or assets. These locations attract individuals and companies seeking to reduce their tax liabilities by taking advantage of the lenient tax policies and financial secrecy offered. Tax havens can facilitate tax avoidance or evasion strategies, as they provide opportunities to shield income and assets from higher tax jurisdictions. However, the use of tax havens is a controversial practice, as it can contribute to global tax imbalances and hinder efforts to combat tax evasion and ensure fair taxation.

What are the paradise papers?

The Paradise Papers refer to a leak of financial documents in 2017 that exposed the offshore activities and tax avoidance strategies of various individuals and companies. These documents, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed the offshore holdings and financial affairs of politicians, celebrities, corporations, and other entities. The Paradise Papers shed light on the complex webs of offshore accounts, shell companies, and trusts used to minimise tax obligations and maintain financial privacy.

What you need to know about the paradise papers leak

The recent huge leak of financial documents revealing how the ultra-rich are secretly investing large amounts of cash in tax havens is the biggest such leak since the Panama Papers last year.

VinciWorks survey reveals staff at 1 in 4 companies unaware of financial crime policies

Hundreds of thousands of workers in both regulated and nonregulated sector at risk of facilitating tax evasion

With the Criminal Finances Act now in full force, VinciWorks has been helping businesses prepare with their new course, Tax Evasion: Failure to Prevent. The new law doesn’t just affect the regulated sector; any business that doesn’t have reasonable procedures in place to prevent facilitation of tax evasion could find themselves prosecuted.

So just how prepared are we for the Criminal Finances Act? VinciWorks surveyed over 250 UK companies with a combined workforce of around 430,000 people to find out just how much tax evasion risk companies are exposing themselves to, and if they have started to take action to mitigate those risks.
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Criminal Finances Act coming into force 30th September

Tax evasion

On 30^th September 2017, the Criminal Finances Act comes into force, as does the requirement for businesses to have reasonable procedures to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. The law is broad and the net is wide; a business can be prosecuted if a contractor puts a client in touch with a dodgy accountant or the entire modus operandi of the business is to stash away taxable cash.

VinciWorks conducted a survey of 250 UK businesses to find out just how much tax evasion risk companies are exposing themselves to. A quarter of companies still do not have any policies in place to prevent financial crime and one in ten companies in the legal and financial services sector haven’t put in place a whistleblowing policy.
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Policy Templates Tax Evasion Thought Leadership
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Download a free tax evasion policy template

Tax Evasion

Are your staff sufficiently prepared for the Criminal Finances Act? Ensuring everyone is familiar with your organisations’ procedures to prevent facilitation of tax evasion will go a long way to protect your company from prosecution. We have therefore created a tax evasion code of conduct policy template based on the Criminal Finances Act that can easily be edited and made available to all staff, clients and stakeholders.
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Course & Product Updates Tax Evasion Thought Leadership
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2 min read

New course – Tax Evasion: Failure to Prevent corporate version

VinciWorks has just released a new version of its tax evasion course specifically geared to the corporate sector. While the first version of Tax Evasion: Failure to Prevent is tailored for businesses in the regulated sector, the new version has been modified to better accommodate scenarios that often face companies in non-regulated industries.

Key changes

Chose from six corporate scenarios

Scenarios for corporate tax evasion course

There are now six specifically corporate scenarios to choose from, with up to three included in the course. Scenarios, like everything else in the course, is fully customisable. You can upload your own scenarios or VinciWorks can help you design learning scenarios that are relevant to your company and industry.
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Criminal Finances Act – not just for accountants and lawyers

Tax evasion

The Criminal Finances Act created a corporate criminal offence for failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. Under this revolutionary law, if an employee or a contractor helps someone evade their taxes, that business can be prosecuted for failing to prevent it from happening.

Implementing reasonable procedures to prevent tax evasion is a key defence against prosecution, but it requires a thorough risk assessment, a top-down commitment and a roll out of staff training. Procedures should be proportional to the risks faced, so a law or accounting firm who gives tax advice to their clients will come out as having a much higher risk.
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Course & Product Updates Tax Evasion Thought Leadership
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3 min read

New Course Release – Tax Evasion: Failure to Prevent

VinciWorks releases new e-learning course on tax evasion

Does your organisation have “reasonable procedures” in place for preventing the facilitation of tax evasion?

The Criminal Finances Act, passed by Parliament on 27th April 2017, creates a new corporate criminal offence for failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. This places the responsibility on businesses to have “reasonable procedures” in place to ensure none of their employees or contractors are involved in helping someone evade their taxes anywhere in the world. Training on tax evasion is a requirement of the new Criminal Finances Act.

About the course

VinciWorks’ new course on tax evasion will give users an understanding of what “reasonable procedures” are and how to ensure your organisation can ensure compliance with the Criminal Finances Act. Users will also learn the difference between the terms “tax evasion”, “tax avoidance” and “tax mitigation” through interactive quizzes, relevant scenarios and case studies. The course also addresses the challenge of offshore tax jurisdictions and gives guidance on how to spot red flags. Organisations can create personalised guidance for their staff, with information about the what to do and who to contact when there is a concern of tax evasion from a client.

There are two versions of the course available, one 45 minute course for high-risk staff and a 15 minute course for all other staff. You can demo both courses below.

Demo the 15 minute version

Demo the 45 minute version

Criminal Finances Act – is your organisation ready?

Checklist of “reasonable procedures” to comply with the Act

After receiving royal assent on 27th April, on 30th September the Criminal Finances Act came into full force. The Act creates a new corporate criminal offence for failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion, placing the responsibility on business to have “reasonable procedures” in place to ensure none of their employees are involved in helping someone evade their taxes.

Guidance from HMRC states that procedures which successfully detect and disclose wrongdoing would likely be found to be reasonable. Timely self-reporting is also an indicator that reasonable procedures are in place.

Reasonable procedures should be guided by the following principles:

1. Risk assessment

Oversight of risk assessment by senior management and appropriate allocation of resources to detect and monitor risk.

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