It's been a little less than two and a half years since the introduction of 2017 CCO legislation and this week, HMRC announced that they have 9 live investigations and another 21 "opportunities" under review. HMRC has said, "The number and spread of investigations clearly demonstrate that HMRC is actively enforcing the legislation across all tax and duty regimes and across organisations of all shapes and sizes."
Notably the 30 cases are:
- spread across different industry sectors, inc FS, labour provision, oil & gas, labour provision
- spread across business size - from small to large businesses under review.
The statement demonstrates that HMRC is actively pursuing CCO across all businesses and it’s important therefore that organisations can demonstrate that they have reasonable procedures in place, to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. Furthermore, not only is compliance a legal requirement, but CCO, along with other tax compliance risk regulations such as Senior Accounting Officer, has a material impact on Business Risk Review ratings.
