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This guidance note provides an overview of the guidance published by HMRC on the corporate offences of failure to prevent the criminal facilitation of tax evasion (often referred to as the corporate criminal offences legislation) that was introduced with effect from 30 September 2017.

Please use the following link to obtain a copy of the guidance: Failing to prevent criminal facilitation of tax evasion ― Government guidance on the criminal offences.

It should be noted that the legislation applies to all companies and partnerships, regardless of their size or sector. Broadly, two corporate offences were introduced for, one relating to the evasion of UK tax and one relating to the evasion of foreign tax. The legislation is very widely drawn and can apply to the evasion of any tax, including indirect and employment taxes, anywhere in the world. The business can potentially face unlimited financial penalties, though a defence exists where the business has reasonable prevention procedures in place.