Tax Evasion

The UK Criminal Finances Act 2017 (the Act) came into force on 30 September 2017 as part of the UK Government’s crackdown on economic crime and the pursuit of corporate accountability.

The Act updates the Terrorism Act 2000 and Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and extends the investigative powers of the relevant law enforcement agencies in tackling corporate corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Act introduces two new corporate criminal offences, namely failure to prevent the facilitation of UK tax evasion (the UK offence, section 45) and failure to prevent facilitation of foreign tax evasion (the foreign offence, section 46).

London P&I and its Managers will commit an offence under the Act if they fail to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (in the UK or elsewhere) by an employee, an agent acting for London P&I, or a Member or their broker whether or not London P&I or its Managers benefit from the tax evasion concerned.

The territorial scope of the new offences is very wide and London P&I is required to show that it has reasonable prevention procedures in place.

Our Members, their brokers and agents operate multi-nationally and will often have bank accounts located in a country other than where the payee is based. However, we are advised that where this is the case we must make enquiries in order to minimise the risk that the foreign offence described above is committed. This may mean that we will need to seek further information before we make payments. As with bribery, London P&I and its Managers have a zero tolerance for the facilitation of tax evasion. Please see our Bribery & Corruption Prevention Policy for more details.