Criminal Finances Act 2017

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (c. 22) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to expand the provisions for confiscating funds to deal with terrorist property and proceeds of tax evasion.

Criminal Finances Act 2017
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; make provision in connection with terrorist property; create corporate offences for cases where a person associated with a body corporate or partnership facilitates the commission by another person of a tax evasion offence; and for connected purposes.
Citation2017 c. 22
Introduced byAmber Rudd, Home Secretary (Commons)
Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford (Lords)
Territorial extentUnited Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent27 April 2017
Other legislation
AmendsProceeds of Crime Act 2002
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Act received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017.[1] According to its long title, the purpose of the Act is to:

amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; make provision in connection with terrorist property; create corporate offences for cases where a person associated with a body corporate or partnership facilitates the commission by another person of a tax evasion offence; and for connected purposes.

Part 3 of the Act creates the corporate offences of failure of a company or partnership to prevent facilitation of UK tax evasion and failure to prevent facilitation of foreign tax evasion offences. Technically these are two distinct offences, depending on whether the tax which is evaded is UK taxation or foreign taxation. Companies and partnerships are required to take 'reasonable' action to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who are responsible for implementation of the legislation, argues that "the procedures that are considered reasonable will change as time passes".[2]

Asian law firm King & Wood Mallesons has described the Act as "a highly effective piece of legislation".[3]

Applications

The Act was invoked, less than two weeks after its provisions on "unexplained wealth orders" came into force on 31 January 2018, to freeze £22 million of assets belonging to an unnamed oligarch.[4]

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References
  1. "Criminal Finances Act 2017 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. HMRC, Tackling tax evasion: Government guidance for the corporate offences of failure to prevent the criminal facilitation of tax evasion, Government guidance, 1 September 2017, page 13, accessed 13 November 2017 Archived 28 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. King & Wood Mallesons, Guide to the Criminal Finances Act, published 3 October 2019, accessed 29 June 2020
  4. Mikhailova, Anna (28 March 2018). "Oligarch's £22m property frozen in crackdown on unexplained wealth, security minister reveals". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
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