HMRC criminal investigation policy - When criminal rather than civil investigations will be commenced

HMRC criminal investigation policy When criminal rather than civil investigations will be commenced

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HMRC has published its policy on the circumstances where compliance would be enforced by a criminal rather than a civil investigation.

Wherever possible, HMRC's policy is to deal with fraud by use of the Civil Investigation of Fraud (CIF) procedures that were introduced from September 2005. However, HMRC reserves complete discretion to conduct a criminal investigation in any case, with a view to prosecution by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) in England and Wales, or by the appropriate prosecuting authority in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Such investigations would be carried out across a range of offences and in all the areas for which the Commissioners of HMRC have responsibility.

Examples of the kind of circumstances in which HMRC will generally consider commencing a criminal, rather than civil investigations are:

in cases of organised or systematic fraud including conspiracy
where an individual holds a position of trust or responsibility
where materially false statements are made or materially false documents are provided in the course of a civil investigation
where deliberate concealment, deception, conspiracy or corruption is suspected
in cases involving the use of false or forged documents
in cases involving importation or exportation breaching prohibitions and restrictions
in cases involving money laundering
where the perpetrator has committed previous offences / there is a repeated course of unlawful conduct or previous civil action
in cases involving theft, or the misuse or un lawful destruction of HMRC documents
where there is evidence of assault on, threats to, or the impersonation of HMRC officials
where there is a link to suspected wider criminality, whether domestic or international, involving offences not under the administration of HMRC.

When considering whether a case should be investigated under the Civil Investigation of Fraud procedures or is the subject of a criminal investigation, one factor will be whether the taxpayer(s) has made a complete and unprompted disclosure of the offences committed.

However, certain fiscal offences will almost always involve a criminal investigation, namely: