Arresting business

KEY POINTS

• Powers provided under PACE 1984.
• Reasonable grounds requirement.
• Care with interviews.
• Seized documents.
• Purpose of making a restraint order.

With the relentless media attention on tax avoidance the environment is difficult for both tax advisers and their clients. The Crown Prosecution Service announced that it will increase fivefold the number of tax cases that it considers for criminal prosecution.

Anyone who engages in “unacceptable” tax planning or does not pay their “fair share” of tax is a potential target and the director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer has delivered a blunt message to this effect. Speaking in a recent interview in the Financial Times (20 January 2013) he said:

“Tax consultants who push dishonest avoidance schemes – and the professionals who invest in them...