Corporate Criminal Offence

The corporate criminal offence (CCO) of the failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion legislation has been effective since September 2017. At EY we have helped organisations across all sectors build their response to the legislation as they seek to prevent those who act for them from criminally facilitating tax evasion.

What EY can do for you

The CCO legislation is exceedingly broad and has a wide-ranging extraterritorial effect. By leveraging our experience and insights, our teams work with you to understand the facilitation risks that you could face, assess the effectiveness of the control framework, and assist in a range of ways to ensure that the response is both effective and proportionate. 

Our team includes the following capabilities;  

  • Individuals with experience of working as fraud investigators within HM Revenue & Customs and an awareness of the many ways in which tax evasion can materialise.
  • Experience of supporting businesses respond to other regulatory and compliance obligations, for example the Bribery Act on which the CCO is modelled.
  • Criminal tax lawyers who can support with the protection of legal privilege to embed reasonable procedures, review ‘red flag’ transactions, and support with any investigations.

To respond to the legislation, HMRC recommends that businesses should put procedures in place that are proportionate to the risks they face, using the following six principles as a guide:

  • Risk assessment
  • Proportionality of risk-based prevention procedures
  • Top level commitment
  • Due diligence
  • Communication
  • Monitoring and review

Our guide to securing compliance

 

Securing long-term compliance with the requirements of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 means embedding the processes into business as usual. Our guide gathers input from professionals across EY and considers the minimum standards along with evolving compliance activities for all organisations.

Our view is that the journey to CCO compliance can include a number of steps, summarised as follows.


tax-controversy-policy

How can EY help

Our team has helped numerous businesses through their CCO journey and can deliver a wide range of services tailored to support your needs including;

  • A risk assessment toolkit to gain clarity on where inherent risks can arise.
  • EY technology to provide a real-time diagnostic tool evidencing the appropriateness of your current framework.
  • Assistance with policies and communication, including online training.
  • Review of ‘red flag’ transactions with the protection of legal privilege.
  • A policy governing the response were the business to be criminally investigated.
  • A framework to ensure that the response remains reasonable and proportionate as the risk environment evolves.

Insights

The UK Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO) of Failing to Prevent the Facilitation of Tax Evasion: The evolving response 

Read

Webcast: The UK CCO of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion– the evolving response (featuring Sam Dean, Lead for Corporate Criminal Offence, HMRC)

Next steps for CCO compliance

Helping financial services institutions respond to the UK’s new corporate criminal offence.

The UK’s new corporate criminal offence

How adopting a robust risk-based approach could open the pathway for future global compliance.

Webcast: Could you be failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion, bribery or a wider range of economic crimes?


Contact us

Contact us to find out more.