Tax Investigations
Peters & Peters is recognised as a “notable practice that has a strong reputation for defending corporate clients in criminal prosecutions and HMRC enforcement actions” by Chambers & Partners 2021, which ranks us as an expert firm in this area.
The UK government has placed unlawful tax avoidance at the heart of its enforcement priorities for the next few years. Peters & Peters provides expert advice to companies and individuals targeted by HM Revenue & Customs to recover unpaid taxes, impose financial penalties and, in the most serious cases, prosecute.
Our team of expert lawyers has many years’ experience specialising in advising corporates and individuals which become subject to tax investigations. This experience is vitally important in addressing the vast array of enforcement powers available to tax agencies.
Wherever possible we encourage non-contentious resolution of investigations by HM Revenue and Customs who have unique powers of non-prosecution compromise. We are particularly skilled at ensuring that problems which could be investigated and prosecuted criminally are resolved by the payment of the tax due with interest and an appropriately mitigated penalty. Building on decades of experience and expertise, we have an excellent working relationship with tax authorities and expert forensic accountants.
Where criminal prosecution cannot be avoided, our core experience as criminal litigators along with our tax experience place us in an unrivalled position to advise clients.
Leading legal directory, Legal 500 2024 notes that we are “experienced in handling parallel civil and criminal tax investigations, including cases with complex multijurisdictional elements”.
- Peters & Peters successfully persuaded HMRC to discontinue a criminal investigation into allegations that the clients, two former directors of an international group of companies, were responsible for £1.5 million worth of fraudulent VAT repayment claims.
- We represented two exporters of mobile telephones, in domestic proceedings and before the ECJ in Luxembourg, in a case concerning the withholding of over £20 million in VAT repayment claims. The firm obtained a landmark judgment which forced a change in approach for HMRC in tackling MTIC fraud.
