VinciWorks

DAC6
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1 min read

DAC6 and Hedge Funds

DAC6 is a European directive aimed at reducing international tax evasion and promoting transparency. It requires “intermediaries” to report some aggressive cross-border tax arrangements.

What do hedge funds need to know about DAC6?

Hedge funds are exposed to DAC6 compliance concerns on multiple fronts. Both in fundraising activities and while making investments, hedge funds could be considered intermediaries in tax arrangements. The video below explains:

What hedge funds need to know about DAC6
Potential DAC6 exposure points for hedge funds
Tips for hedge funds to remain compliant

DAC6 compliance for hedge funds with VinciWorks

VinciWorks’ DAC6 reporting solution provides hedge funds with the expertise, knowledge and technical infrastructure to comply with the Directive in every EU jurisdiction. The tool uses a built-in knowledge engine to guide users through the DAC6 process and recommends which transactions should be reported. It features workflows designed and updated for the intricacies of each EU member state’s implementation of DAC6.

Learn more

Thought Leadership
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6 min read

Complying with the Posted Workers Directive (PWD)

Crowded airport — The Posted Workers Directive (PWD) is already in force and will apply to businesses as soon as business travel resumes

What is a posted worker?

A ‘posted worker’ is an employee or agency worker who is temporarily sent by an employer from one European Economic Area (EEA) country (and Switzerland) to another.

What is the Posted Workers Directive?

The Posted Workers Directive was originally passed by the European Union in 1996, with a major revision (2018/957/EU) adopted in 2018. It has been in force since 20 July 2020.

The goal of the Directive is to ensure that posted workers are granted the same working conditions as local employees. In addition, the Directive places a significant administrative and compliance burden on employers, including prior notification of new postings and the tracking of international postings.

Course & Product Updates DAC6 Thought Leadership
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5 min read

VinciWorks’ DAC6 reporting solution awarded runner up prize in the British Legal Technology Awards

Runner up prize for IT product or service of the year

Thursday 12 November, 2020

This year, our DAC6 reporting solution was awarded the runner up prize in the category of IT Product or Service of the Year in the British Legal Tech Awards. The announcement took place during a virtual black-tie ceremony hosted by Netlaw Media and follows hard work from our full-time DAC6 team consisting of developers, subject-matter experts, support technicians and designers. We congratulate Orbital Witness for coming out first-place winners in the category.

Criminal Finances Act – reasonable procedures checklist

Are your staff aware of the reasonable procedures under the Criminal Finances Act?

The Criminal Finances Act, which came into force in September 2017, introduced the requirement for businesses to have reasonable procedures to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. If you do not feel that your organisation complies with the Criminal Finances Act, it is important to start a thorough risk assessment of all areas of your business operations. Organisations must also draw up an implementation plan that includes training on the Criminal Finances Act.

While there have been no prosecutions as yet, HMRC are currently investigating thirteen potential violations of the Corporate Criminal Offence of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. This is likely to shine a harsh spotlight on which reasonable procedures companies are failing to implement.

DAC6 in Germany: Partial reporting just got even more complicated

Bundestag — Germany is one of a handful of EU member states that did not defer DAC6 reporting in light of COVID-19

The German tax authority has confirmed to VinciWorks in line with their latest edition of the DAC6 Communication Manual that they will no longer be accepting partial reports in certain cases where legal professional privilege applies. Instead, the taxpayer will be expected to make a complete report.

Reports for non-marketable arrangements will (contra legem) no longer be accepted by the German tax authority. For such arrangements, where there is only one relevant taxpayer and where the intermediary has not been released from their confidentiality obligations, the intermediary cannot report only “arrangement-related” information. In this case, the relevant taxpayer will have to report a complete disclosure.

The following options are currently available for reporting non-marketable tax arrangements:

A complete disclosure is made by the relevant taxpayer.
The relevant taxpayer releases the intermediary from Legal professional privilege and the intermediary makes the report.

The legal obligation to file a partial report in cases of marketable arrangements still exists.

Year Four of the Criminal Finances Act – what now?

What you need to do now to prevent facilitation of tax evasion

We’re coming up to Year Four of the Criminal Finances Act. And while we haven’t seen a rush of prosecutions that many feared, the British authorities have been ramping up enforcement in recent months with 13 live investigations of the failure to prevent clause, and another 18 possible cases under review.

You’ve probably not thought about your reasonable procedures for a while, but with investigations ramping up, it’s crucial to review what your business has in place to ensure you have a legal defence should the worst happen. Just like the age old saying that your first payment of every month should be to the insurance company, the first task on Monday’s agenda should be to check that your company is doing enough to prevent facilitation of tax evasion.

New course release: Phishing Challenge 4.0

Research shows that even with all of the right IT protections in place, a majority of staff are at medium to high risk of falling prey to phishing attacks. These types of attacks are especially dangerous because, in contrast to other types of scams that may be easier to detect, phishing attacks use psychological gimmicks to trick the victim: they are designed to look credible and are sometimes even personalised. Therefore, even with all the right IT protection in place, one employee could click on one wrong link and potentially bring down a whole company.

Risk Tax Evasion
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7 min read

A Dozen Investigations of the Corporate Offence of Failing to Prevent Facilitation of Tax Evasion

The Criminal Finances Act has been in force since 2017. While there have been no prosecutions as yet, HMRC are currently investigating thirteen potential violations of the Corporate Criminal Offence of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.

The Act places responsibility on businesses to make sure none of their employees are involved in helping someone evade their taxes. If they do, and if the business failed to have “reasonable procedures” to prevent or expose it, then the business itself could be found guilty and liable for some pretty steep fines.

This offence is broad-reaching. It can be committed whether or not the company is UK-based or established under the law of another country, or whether the associated person who performs the criminal act of facilitation is in the UK or overseas.

The Six Guiding Principles of The “Reasonable Procedures” Defence

Under this legislation, businesses can be held responsible for the actions of their employees, whether or not the business was aware of an employee’s criminal activities. A business’ only defence is to take “reasonable measures” to ensure that its employees do not facilitate tax evasion. Government guidance recommends the following six “reasonable measure” principles:

Risk assessment
Proportionality of risk-based prevention procedures
Top level commitment
Due diligence
Communication (including training)
Monitoring and review

Thought Leadership
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8 min read

Social engineering: Don’t bite the bait

What is social engineering?

We’ve all heard of headline-making cyber attacks and the havoc they have all too often managed to wreak. This includes the 2019 ransomware attack in Texas that held 22 cities hostage for millions of dollars and lasted for several days before being resolved. These news-worthy attacks, which are usually technical in nature and often do not require any user interaction to do their dirty work, prompt organisations large and small to invest in new technologies to strengthen their defences against these malicious and damaging infiltrations.

But there’s another type of cyber attack that, while perhaps less likely to make headlines, is equally dangerous and potentially damaging to both private individuals and organisations. Social engineering is a cyber crime tactic in which hackers use psychological manipulation to trick victims into breaching security protocols or revealing private information, thereby circumventing the usual protections that cyber security tools are supposed to provide.

New course release – Email@Risk

Email comes with risks, whether in personal or professional settings. Email is usually irretrievable, and all too often people don’t think before clicking send or clicking a suspicious link. One wrong click could cripple your company in a matter of minutes. Each time we open our email, we’re diving into a world of risks.

VinciWorks’ new course, Email@Risk, is designed to help users understand what those risks are and how to take action to mitigate the risks and avoid your email address being the source of the next great data breach or embarrassing ‘reply all’.

The course takes a modern, engaging approach to training on this subject with a focus on relevant, clean design, up to date information and guidance, tips and interactive questions and exercises to ensure that staff have the skills they need to recognise and responsibly respond to a wide variety of email-related risks and threats.

Try now

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