Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-04-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions an action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has also been investigated by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure that tax has been paid by the individuals concerned.

Lord Deighton

Actions under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) (POCA) could include a variety of different provisions within the Act. For instance, the use of POCA investigative powers, a prosecution for a POCA money laundering offence, the use of criminal confiscation following conviction, the use of POCA civil recovery procedures or financial intelligence received by way of the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) regime.

Where a law enforcement agency has suspicions of tax evasion it is up to that agency to refer the matter to HMRC to review and investigate as appropriate, using civil or criminal powers. HMRC does not keep a record of how many such referrals are made to them.

Where HMRC is the investigating agency conducting the POCA actions, they routinely also assess the correct tax position and seek to recover outstanding amounts