It’s Never Too Late In POCA / Confiscation Proceedings!

I am often involved in POCA/Confiscation proceedings in which the defendant explains, at the eleventh hour, that the source of unidentified deposits into his bank accounts is legitimate trading income not disclosed to HMRC. I was recently involved in a case in which the solicitor anticipated that such an explanation provided by his defendant would not be believed by the Court, as frequently it is not. In the absence of any proper accounting records, I was instructed to undertake a forensic examination of the client’s bank statements and other documentation, extracting information therefrom to enable the client to complete his tax returns for the last 6 years.

Work Undertaken

I prepared a detailed analysis of the client’s bank statements in order to identify income from employment and self-employment and any other taxable income shown, as well as any tax allowable expenses associated therewith. I also assisted the client to prepare estimates of income and allowable expenses for periods where supporting paperwork was no longer available, and amounts were received and paid in cash.

The Outcome

As a consequence of submitting late tax returns, there were additional tax, penalties and interest to pay but I was able to successfully argue that a significant proportion of the financial benefit assessed to have been derived from criminal activity could be explained by legitimate trading income.

Raymond Davidson, Head of Forensic Accounting