Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Due diligence definition

What does Due diligence mean? In legal practice, due diligence describes (1) compliance steps to prevent offences; and (2) pre‑transaction investigation in corporate and finance work. As a statutory defence to many strict‑liability and regulatory offences (for example under the UK Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Food Safety Act 1990, and under Ireland’s Consumer Protection Act 2007 and food legislation), it requires the defendant to show that all reasonable precautions were taken and all due diligence was exercised to avoid the commission of the offence. Depending on the statute, this may place a legal or evidential burden on the defendant,...

Criminal Finances Act 2017 (UK): designing and implementing proportionate, risk‑based procedures to prevent facilitation of tax evasion—and when none are reasonable

Published by a LexisNexis Practice Compliance expert

Practice notes

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA 2017) created a corporate offence for failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion, effective from 30 September 2017. Government guidance sets out what it expects from compliance arrangements. This Practice Note draws on the final legislation and that guidance...

That guidance should be applied proportionately and on a risk basis, taking into account the size, nature and complexity of your organisation. A small entity and a large multinational may adopt the principles in very different ways: what is reasonable for a low‑risk small business could be wholly unreasonable for a high‑risk large business...

The Law Society has also issued Criminal Finances Act 2017 guidance for law firms, approved by the Chancellor on 21 November 2018. According to the Law Society, the Chancellor considers its guidance consistent with the Government guidance for the corporate offences of failing to prevent the criminal facilitation of tax evasion...

The offences

There are two possible offences, depending on whether the evaded tax is due in the UK or in another jurisdiction. Each offence has three core...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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