Latest by Alice Kemp
All is not (necessarily) lost: Crypto crime recovery
With over 2 million people in the UK now holding and using cryptocurrency, and the Chancellor announcing that a government backed non-fungible token ("NFT") is to be issued by the Royal Mint this summer, the market for crypto-assets is expected to continue to grow in the coming months and years; so much so that legislation is planned to implement a new regulatory regime for the crypto market.
Read moreFinancial Crime Time - Your update from RPC: 2022 Q2
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreFinancial Crime Time - Your update from RPC: 2022 Q1
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreFinancial Crime Time - Your update from RPC: 2021 Q4
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreHMRC targets enablers of tax evasion
HMRC and the OECD are looking to tackle the rise of the professional enabler of tax evasion, but what is an enabler? And what does that mean for professionals?
Read moreFinancial Crime Time - Your update from RPC: 2021 Q3
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreFinancial Crime Time – Your Update from RPC: 2021 Q2
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreCaught in the act
The furlough scheme has become ‘a magnet for fraudsters’. Adam Craggs and Alice Kemp outline the extensive powers HMRC can muster to investigate ‘high risk’ claims and to claw back any undue payments.
Read moreFinancial Crime Time – Your Update from RPC: 2021 Q1
Welcome to the latest edition of our round-up of news making the headlines in the world of financial crime and compliance. Our aim is to give you an easily digestible, bite-sized overview of issues that may affect your business.
Read moreThe long arm of HMRC
Adam Craggs and Alice Kemp outline the powers HMRC has at its disposal when conducting a criminal rather than civil investigation.
Read moreHMRC Crackdown on Covid-19 Fraud
In the March 2021 Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the creation of a new major fraud taskforce, the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, established as part of a wide-reaching crackdown on criminals exploiting UK government support schemes. The new taskforce represents one of the all-time largest responses to a fraud risk by HMRC.
Read moreHMRC's new powers to investigate furlough abuse
The Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was announced on 20 March 2020, with the aim of safeguarding UK jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. The CJRS has undoubtably assisted in protecting jobs but it was, by necessity introduced quickly, with little and complex guidance, which has made it, in the words of HMRC's Chief Executive Jim Harra, a "magnet for fraudsters".
Read moreCOVID-19 – Now is not the time for businesses to be complacent
On 31 March 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) issued guidance(1) on how investigators and prosecutors are proposing to tackle the issuing of new criminal proceedings during 'an unprecedented crisis for the Criminal Justice System in the UK.
Read moreCOVID-19: Your workforce – furloughing - act to mitigate the risk of exposure to tax evasion offences as scheme could be open to abuse
Jim Harra, Chief Executive at HMRC, has informed a Treasury Committee meeting that he expects the government's multi-billion pound employee furlough scheme to be targeted by criminals seeking to exploit the £60 billion pledged in Chancellor Rishi Sunak's unprecedented Coronavirus protection package.
Read moreCOVID-19: Your workforce – furloughing - act to mitigate the risk of exposure to tax evasion offences as scheme could be open to abuse
Jim Harra, Chief Executive at HMRC, has informed a Treasury Committee meeting that he expects the government's multi-billion pound employee furlough scheme to be targeted by criminals seeking to exploit the £60 billion pledged in Chancellor Rishi Sunak's unprecedented Coronavirus protection package.
Read moreAria Technology – No specific form required for notification of assessment of VAT
In Aria Technology Ltd v HMRC [2020] EWCA Civ 182, the Court of Appeal confirmed that there is no particular form or formality required of an assessment under section 73(1), Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA) and an assessment can be contained in more than one document as long as the minimum requirements are set out in a clear and unambiguous way.
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