Civil rights concerns over Justice Bill

Civil rights concerns over Justice Bill

Tax experts are calling for wider consultation on a new Bill that radically breaks with the tradition of confidentiality agreements and privileged information.

The Criminal Justice and Police Bill intended to improve information sharing between government departments, police and foreign authorities lacks safeguards and will be impractical, say experts.

John Gwyer, tax partner at Pannell Kerr Forster, said: ‘It will be completely unworkable because of the time constraints, amount of information and it will infringe on civil rights.’

As new issues come to light, fears are growing that new powers proposed for the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise will target the honest taxpayer over the criminal. Francesca Lagerberg, tax expert at the ICAEW’s tax faculty, warned: ‘Don’t just rush this through. We need a public airing.’

Other concerns are that information obtained will be used for other purposes by different authorities and that punishment will vary between foreign and national law enforcers.

If passed the Criminal Justice and Police Bill will give the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise a statutory power to disclose privileged information to national and foreign police in a bid to crack down on international money laundering, fraud and corruption.

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource