Managing Tax Evasion Risks under the Criminal Finance Act 2017

Tuesday 13th November 2018 13:30 – 17:00

Venue: Offices of Winckworth Sherwood, London

Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB

According to the UK National Risk Assessment (2017), tax evasion and fraud are the main sources of illicit finance in the UK. So, it stands to reason that managing the risks of tax evasion is likely to rank highly in a firm’s financial crime risk assessment. But just what should a firm do to manage and mitigate these risks to avoid being used to facilitate criminal tax evasion.

Firms that cannot demonstrate what ‘reasonable procedures’ they have taken to manage and mitigate this threat will be held strictly liable under the Criminal Finances Act 2017. This means that any firm that is found guilty will be subject to a potentially unlimited fine. And then there is FATCA legislation from the USA and the continuing development of tax information data exchange under the Common Reporting Standards!

In this workshop we will take the opportunity to consider some very real threats including emerging tax-related crime typologies, some factors that should be considered in a risk assessment and also reflect upon some best practices that will help the employees and associates of the company to identify and report suspected tax evasion. We’ll also look at the very latest international tax disclosure developments.

This workshop is designed to provide delegates with an opportunity to refresh their awareness of tax management responsibilities, whilst providing practical ideas and takeaways to help to strengthen existing tax compliance risk management procedures.

This course was developed and is run by The Great Chatwell Academy of Learning and brought to you in partnership with MLROs.com

 

About the Course

The course is designed to provide delegates with an enhanced understanding of the background to the new UK laws concerning the criminal facilitation of tax evasion and what firms must do to protect themselves from the new corporate offence of failing to implement ‘reasonable’ procedures to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion by employees and ‘associates’. (Please note: the course is not designed to provide a detailed examination of tax offences or accounting practices).

Using real-life case studies, exercises and learning from the blockchain technology experts, delegates will be encouraged to develop a practical understanding on how to manage this new corporate and ‘strict’ criminal liability.

The Course will be suitable for:

  • All operational risk professionals including financial crime compliance (FCC) and money laundering practitioners
  • Audit, assurance risk and compliance analysts
  • Persons regulated in non-banking sectors including high value dealers, money service bureaus and foreign exchange centres
  • Persons wishing to enter the regulated sector, or who have recently joined
  • Professionals from non-regulated sectors and public officials such as the police force or armed forces who wish to prepare for a career-change

Course Overview and Expected Learning Outcomes

The course explains the latest international developments concerning tax compliance, including FATCA, CRS and the Act, and why the payment of tax is important.

Delegates will be provided with a high-level summary of some of the most significant forms of direct and indirect taxation for private individuals and corporate entities, and the laws that govern them.

Particular emphasis will be placed upon the Act and the new corporate offences relating to UK and Overseas tax evasion, and delegates will be provided with an opportunity to apply the learning from the workshop to some real-life scenarios and tax-related activities.

One of the critical learning outcomes will be to review and understand the six guiding principles of how a corporate entity must comply with the Act, and how to conduct a risk assessment in the workplace to identify the highest risks that must be managed more closely.

It is anticipated that a key outcome and takeaway will be that delegates will be able to apply the learning in their own organisations, to support the firm to manage and mitigate the risk of facilitating tax evasion.

Keywords and topic areas

  • UK and international tax disclosure
  • The UK Criminal Finances Act 2017 (“the Act”)
  • OECD and the G20 recommendations, FATCA and CRS
  • Tax evasion vs tax avoidance vs transfer pricing
  • The Panama Papers
  • Risk assessment – jurisdiction, customer, sector, transaction and channels
  • Red flags to uncovering tax evasion
  • KYC and CDD
  • Escalation and reporting of suspicion or whistleblowing
  • Six guiding principles to managing the risk of facilitating tax evasion risks

At the end of the course delegates will be provided with a certificate attesting to their attendance and participation.