Overview International and domestic scrutiny of AML safeguards is increasing. High-profile prosecutions and regulatory action are becoming more frequent. Cross-border coordination means that businesses face an increased likelihood of enforcement actions in multiple jurisdictions when those safeguards fail. The use of AML systems to prevent tax evasion is of increasing importance to governments and regulators globally. […]

Tax avoidance and wealth offshore have become leading news stories in recent weeks.  Time will tell what, if any, effect the Panama Papers leak will have.  Further challenges have been made against schemes based on investments in the film industries made in the 1990s.  Not unnaturally, when tax avoidance schemes fail, taxpayers will look to […]

On 21 June 2012, the Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, issued a statement clarifying that Jersey has no wish, or need, to engage with those who seek to involve the Island in aggressive tax planning schemes to avoid UK tax. With effect from 1st of October 2014, we expect service providers to ensure that they […]

In the matter of the Representation of IFM Corporate Trustees Limited v Helliwell and Mountain[2015] JRC160 the Royal Court of Jersey was asked to exercise its discretion to make an order for rectification.  It warned that if a trust constitutes a scheme that is technically lawful but is so contrived and artificial that it would […]

Revenue & Customs has so far collected just £13.9m from an initiative to prise open secret bank accounts in the Crown Dependencies which was originally expected to end up raising £1bn. Just over 400 people have so far come forward to own up to previously undeclared accounts in the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, […]

HMRC has secured an extra £2.7bn for the government’s coffers by clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion in the last year, its annual accounts have shown. When the extra is accounted for, the tax office clawed back a total to £26.6bn in 2014-15, up from £23.9bn the previous year. Tax evasion as, opposed to […]

The question of tax investigations is a highly topical one, given the shift of tone and language on the part of the international political community concerning this issue. The distinction between tax avoidance, which is lawful, and tax evasion, which is unlawful and criminal, is apparently being quickly forgotten. Individuals and institutions need to take […]

Tax Avoidance Or Tax Evasion? There Is A Difference According to a recent poll, voters in the United Kingdom don’t see a distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion, at least not a moral one. According to a YouGov survey, 59 percent considered avoidance “unacceptable,” while only 32 percent thought it was legitimate. The pollsters […]