Finance Act 2014

Criminal offences

6 (1) A person meets this condition if the person is charged with a relevant offence.

(2) The fact that a person has been charged with an offence is disregarded for the purposes of this paragraph if—

(a) the person has been acquitted of the offence, or

(b) the charge has been dismissed or the proceedings have been discontinued.

(3) An acquittal is not taken into account for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2) if an appeal has been brought against the acquittal and has not yet been disposed of.

(4) “Relevant offence” means any of the following—

(a) an offence at common law of cheating in relation to the public revenue;

(b) in Scotland, an offence at common law of—

(i) fraud;

(ii) uttering;

(c) an offence under section 17(1) of the Theft Act 1968 or section 17 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 (c. 16 (N.I.)) (false accounting);

(d) an offence under section 106A of TMA 1970 (fraudulent evasion of income tax);

(e) an offence under section 107 of TMA 1970 (false statements: Scotland);

(f) an offence under any of the following provisions of CEMA 1979—

(i) section 50(2) (improper importation of goods with intent to defraud or evade duty);

(ii) section 167 (untrue declarations etc);

(iii) section 168 (counterfeiting documents etc);

(iv) section 170 (fraudulent evasion of duty);

(v) section 170B (taking steps for the fraudulent evasion of duty);

(g) an offence under any of the following provisions of VATA 1994—

(i) section 72(1) (being knowingly concerned in the evasion of VAT);

(ii) section 72(3) (false statement etc);

(iii) section 72(8) (conduct involving commission of other offence under section 72);

(h) an offence under section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006 (fraud);

(i) an offence under any of the following provisions of CRCA 2005—

(i) section 30 (impersonating a Commissioner or officer of Revenue and Customs);

(ii) section 31 (obstruction of officer of Revenue and Customs etc);

(iii) section 32 (assault of officer of Revenue and Customs);

(j) an offence under regulation 45(1) of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2157);

(k) an offence under section 49(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 13) (possession of articles for use in fraud).