23 August 2017 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA2017) includes a new Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO) which affects all corporates, and therefore all universities, with effect from 30 September 2017.
The new CCO makes it an offence for a corporate to fail to prevent an employee, agent or other 'associated person' of the corporate body from knowingly assisting another party in evading tax, whether that be in the UK or overseas. Corporates should ensure they are able to show that they have reviewed the risk of this occurring and have appropriate procedures in place to prevent it. (NB: this legislation does not relate to the corporate/university's own tax risks/errors/evasion but to failing to prevent associated persons from assisting others to evade tax).
While aimed primarily at the financial services sector as well as legal and advisory firms whose clients may be up to no good with their taxes, all bodies corporate are included in the legislation and as such, all must take reasonable steps to comply with it.
BUFDG's Tax Group has produced a guidance document for universities setting out how they can approach preparing for this, which also includes links to further information and resources. We have also worked with KPMG to produce an example risk register showing possible risks that universities may need to consider - some risks are HE specific, and others could affect all corporates. KPMG has also produced this document setting out a sample process to follow to ensure you are complying with the new Act. As part of the defence against CFA2017, A risk review of processes across the university, should be undertaken now, including supply chains, payments and invoicing to name only a few. Guidance specifically for those in procurement is here. It may be possible to use information from risk reviews undertaken for Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Bribery legislation as a starting point for this. The guidance and example risk register provide more information.
