CCO Services

In the wake of the Criminal Finances Act (2017), firms face greater FCA and overseas regulatory scrutiny. To prevent the facilitation of UK or overseas tax evasion, increasingly drastic measures are being implemented, with firms facing severe reputational damage, hefty fines and criminal sanctions.

What we do and how we can help (Our Solutions)

At WTS Hansuke, our expert teams provide professional advice and guidance to ensure firms are compliant, including self-reporting and negotiating deferred prosecution agreements. The implementation and management of such procedures can help mitigate financial and reputational risks for a variety of organisations. Our CCO services ensure that our clients remain protected against potential offences, as prescribed in the Criminal Finances Act.

Our services include:

• Undertaking initial risk assessment and securing board-level engagement; 
• Communication and training to boards and client-facing teams, developing reasonable procedures; 
• Remediation programmes; 
• Advising and preparing self-disclosures in the event of the identification of breaches; and
• Negotiating deferred prosecution agreements.

DAC6 Services

With the introduction of DAC6 in May 2018, tax authorities must identify and address cross-border aggressive tax arrangements. DAC6, as the latest tax transparency measure, imposes mandatory reporting of such cross-border arrangements by firms. Cross-border tax arrangements which meet the description of a ‘hallmark’ are required to be reported to either HMRC or another tax authority in the EU, by financial intermediaries.

What we do and how we can help (Our Solutions)

WTS Hansuke assists financial institutions to understand and build operational capacity to detect, capture and report tax avoidance and planning arrangements. We assist firms to ensure that they have introduced detect, capture and report functionality for reportable cross-border arrangements. Additionally, we support the retrospective review procedure and the reporting process on any reportable arrangement from 25 June 2018 onwards.  

WTS Hansuke assists firms with identifying procedures relevant to DAC6 reporting, including:

• DAC6 principal provisions including hallmarks, main benefit test (MBT), EU taxes and intermediaries; 
• Cross referencing DAC6 with AML/KYC, CbCR, and tax evasion facilitation;
• Operationalising DAC6 and demonstrating compliance; and
• Practical strategies including communication protocols across multiple intermediaries and reporting.