International Tax Investigations Remain Stifled

The efficacy of HMRC offshore fraud investigations are seemingly taking one step forward and two steps back as international investigations continue to be stifled. The introduction of Common Reporting Standards will assist authorities in expediting international tax investigations, but many hurdles remain in place.

As the Common Reporting Standards 'late adopter' countries are now feeding long-awaited financial data to HMRC, the Government is placing increasing pressure on UK agencies such as the Serious Fraud Office and National Crime Agency, to make full use of the data in their possession to increase tax revenues and reduce serious crime.

The SFO, NCA, Crown Prosecution Service and HMRC themselves can now also apply for an Unexplained Wealth Order to investigate the source of any individual's wealth as part of the growing number of civil and criminal sanctions being levied against taxpayers.

The practicalities of implementing these new measures however, means that tracking and tracing a wanted person and having them returned to the UK to stand trial is still by no means a straight forward process. Brexit has further complicated this process and is, at least for a short time, resulting in even longer and more costly delays.

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