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Putting tax offence on your radar

This latest legislation from the UK Government is one of an expanding list of domestic and international initiatives focussing on tax transparency and governance of tax risk.

Businesses will be automatically deemed liable for the facilitation of tax evasion by an associate, unless they can prove that they had ‘reasonable procedures’ to prevent such facilitation in place at the time the facilitation offence occurred. In addition to the risk of reputational damage, significant penalties accompany this legislation, including unlimited financial penalties, confiscation orders and serious crime prevention orders.

Establish your set of ‘reasonable procedures’

Before the legislation comes into force later this year, businesses should establish a set of ‘reasonable procedures’. HMRC acknowledges what constitutes ‘reasonable’ will continually evolve over time, but currently there are six guiding principles which would underpin any defence. These are:

• Risk assessment
• Proportionate procedures
• Top level leadership
• Due diligence
• Training and communication
• Monitoring and review.

Complete your risk assessment now

Deloitte recommends that all businesses potentially within the scope of the rules complete a risk assessment in the first half of 2017 to help them better understand where they may be at risk of facilitating any tax evasion and to allow time to respond before the legislation comes into force.

Risk Assessment roadmap

Deloitte’s approach and how we can help

Deloitte’s Corporate Criminal Offence Team have an established approach to supporting businesses identify risks and establish appropriate checks and controls. In response to this legislation we have developed a tool that can provide a jump start to the process of identifying, classifying and quantifying risks of tax evasion. We will also have a number of offerings to support you as needed, depending on the conclusions from your initial assessment.

Contact us now to discuss how we can help you to develop a clear road map for your organisation, and where we can support your businesses’ risk assessment.

To learn more about what you need to consider and how we can help your organisation respond to the new rules, please contact your usual Deloitte adviser or one of the key contacts below.