Offshore tax evaders—criminal offences


Produced in partnership with Nicholas Griffin QC and Tom Broomfield of QEB Hollis Whiteman
Practice notes

Offshore tax evaders—criminal offences


Produced in partnership with Nicholas Griffin QC and Tom Broomfield of QEB Hollis Whiteman

Practice notes
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Background to the strict liability offences for offshore tax evaders

The government’s strategy for tackling offshore tax evasion was initially set out in HMRC’s 2014 No Safe Havens with a supplement issued in 2019. The general aims of No Safe Havens 2014 were that:

  1. •

    there are no jurisdictions where UK taxpayers feel safe to hide their income and assets from HMRC

  2. •

    would-be offshore evaders realise that the balance of risk is against them

  3. •

    offshore evaders voluntarily pay the tax due and remain compliant

  4. •

    those who do not come forward are detected and face vigorously-enforced sanctions; and

  5. •

    there will be no place for facilitators of offshore evasion

As to the first and second aims, the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) marked 'an unprecedented step change' in its ability to tackle offshore evasion. The CRS involves an automatic and much increased exchange of taxpayer information at the international level. All countries committed to the CRS were required to exchange data by the end of September 2018. As

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Strict liability definition
What does Strict liability mean?

An offence is one of strict liability if it does not require proof of mens rea in respect of one or more elements of the actus reus.

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