The Criminal Finances Act provides law enforcement agencies with greater powers to recover the proceeds of crime, tackle money laundering, tax evasion and corruption, and terrorist financing. The Act, which came into force on 30 September 2017, introduced two new criminal offences for corporations: one applying to the evasion of UK taxes and one applying to the evasion of foreign taxes.

These offences relate to the evasion of UK and foreign taxes and hold corporations and partnerships criminally liable when they fail to prevent their employees, agents, or others who provide services on their behalf from criminally facilitating tax evasion.

Where UK tax evasion has been found to take place, the offence can be tried by the courts of the United Kingdom regardless of whether the company who performs the criminal act of facilitation has a business presence in the UK or overseas.

HMRC is responsible for investigating offences in relation to UK tax whilst the Serious Fraud Office is responsible for investigating offences in relation to foreign taxes.

Over the last number of years, the government has announced a raft of measures to encourage the use of cleaner vehicles and drive the growth of the electric car sector. Some of these measures specifically look at making more electric vehicle charging points available at workplaces and homes across the UK.

The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) is provided by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), and offers a grant of up to a 75% contribution towards the cost of installing one chargepoint up to a maximum of £500. Using a chargepoint is safer and quicker than a conventional plug socket.

In order to qualify for the grant, the applicant must have purchased an eligible electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle on or after 01 October 2016. The household in question must also have off-street parking, and must use an OLEV-approved home charging point installer. The EVHS funding is limited to one installation per eligible vehicle and up to a maximum of two charging points per household.

The authorised installer will claim for the grant on behalf of the householder. The remaining cost should be agreed with the installer prior to installation of the charging point. There are separate government schemes to encourage the use of electric charging points for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations as well as for local councils installing on-street residential chargepoints for plug-in electric vehicles.

The Help to Save scheme for people on low incomes was officially launched in September 2018 following an 8-month trial. The scheme allows those in work entitled to Working Tax Credit and in receipt of Working Tax Credits or Child Tax Credits, to save up to £50 a month for two years and receive a 50% government bonus.

The scheme is also open to UK residents who are claiming Universal Credit and have a household or individual income of at least £542.88 for their last monthly assessment period. Payments from Universal Credit are not considered to be part of household income.

Payments under the scheme can be made by standing order on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis and one-off payments by debit card are also possible. Account holders will then be able to continue saving under the scheme for a further 2 years and receive another bonus. This could see those on low incomes receive a bonus of up to £1,200 on maximum savings of £2,400 for 4 years from the date the account is opened. After the 4 years, the Help to Save account will be closed and savers will not be able to reopen it or open another Help to Save account. The account balances are expected to be rolled over into successor accounts.

There are no limits on how the money used can be spent but it is hoped that the money will be saved for urgent costs. Money paid into the account can be withdrawn at any time, but this could affect the size of the bonus payment.

Under certain circumstances, taxpayers can apply to HMRC for clearance or approval for a specific transaction. This can help give certainty about how a proposed transaction will be treated. Of course, there are numerous caveats to seeking clearance and the taxpayer must have provided all relevant facts regarding the intended transaction. If any relevant information was not provided, then HMRC’s clearance will be invalid.

There are two types of clearance available. A statutory clearance / approval or a non-statutory clearance / approval.  Statutory clearance applications can be made to HMRC before the relevant transaction or event has taken place based on the underlying legislation. Although, it is not mandatory to do so in cases where statutory clearance is available, it is usually recommended to obtain HMRC’s approval up-front.

The non-statutory clearance service concerns areas of tax where the legislation does not otherwise provide for a formal clearance process. Before using this service HMRC requires the taxpayer to check a transaction is not covered by a more appropriate clearance or approval route, and to have fully considered HMRC’s guidance about all clearance and approval routes.

HMRC does not provide clearances or advice for the application of the ‘settlements legislation’ or the tax consequences of executing non-charitable trust deeds or settlements. In addition, HMRC does not provide either formal or informal clearances that the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) does not apply or in cases that in HMRC’s view relate to tax avoidance.

In a joint statement issued by HM Treasury and the Bank of England it had been confirmed that the £50 note is to continue to be part of the UK currency. The new £50 note will be designed and printed on polymer, a thin flexible plastic that includes a number of important new security features. Polymer notes are cleaner, safer and stronger than existing paper notes.

We have already witnessed the launch of new £5 and £10 notes. A new £20 note featuring J.M.W Turner is expected to enter circulation in 2020. The new £50 note will follow at a future date.

There had been speculation that the £50 note might be withdrawn due to concerns that the notes are being forged and used for money laundering and tax evasion. However, there is evidence that the demand for the £50 note is continuing to rise as it gives people more flexibility over how they spend and manage their money.

Sarah John, the Bank of England’s Chief Cashier, said:

‘I’m very excited to be starting the process of introducing a new £50 note. At the Bank, we are committed to providing the public with high quality notes they can use with confidence. Moving the £50 note onto polymer is an important next step to ensure that we can continue to do that.’