DQ's Head of Regulatory & Compliance Services, Sinead O'Connor, spoke last week (26 April 2017) at a conference in London on the new corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. The offence, which is part of the UK's Criminal Finance Act (the "Act"), was the sole topic of the conference and Sinead spoke about the view from offshore to shed light on how Island firms are preparing to comply.
The key message that Sinead shared was that preventing tax evasion is nothing new for the Isle of Man and that the introduction of the offence would certainly not cause a significant change in business models for Isle of Man firms. She discussed with the audience, which was principally UK law firms and financial institutions, how the reality of the Island's regulatory regime might differ from external perceptions and shared details of the judiciary's willingness to co-operate on tax matters. She also discussed, in practical terms, how various firms on the Island already deal with tax risk and what additional procedures they are considering to help to demonstrate 'adequate procedures' under the Act.
Sinead dealt with several questions from the audience about the application of the Act to the Isle of Man and whether similar legislation might be introduced on the Island.
Chaired by a partner from Simmons & Simmons, the conference heard from several partners in leading UK law firms about the implications of the offence and DQ is proud to have featured on the speaker list for the day.
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