Criminal prosecutions and tax fraud in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article examines the approach to criminal prosecutions for tax fraud in three countries: Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The study builds on existing work to further develop an understanding of the extent to which these jurisdictions use civil, instead of criminal, proceedings when serious tax fraud is detected. A comparison is made with benefit fraud for illustrative purposes. The research shows that all jurisdictions use insufficient resourcing to justify the small number of criminal prosecutions for tax fraud. However, proportionately greater resources are invested in criminal prosecutions for benefit fraud in all jurisdictions, despite benefit fraud having significantly less financial impact. The author discusses how existing practices appear to challenge the directives provided in the prosecution guidelines of each country. The absence of transparency and fairness in these practices is highlighted, and a proposal is made that an external agency be tasked with investigating and decision-making in relation to prosecutions for all crimes where the state is the victim.