Classification of tax crimes

Insertion of article 248 bis into the Andorran Criminal Code

The new FATF recommendations of 2012 include the addition of tax offenses to the list of predicate offences against money laundering. In keeping with Andorra’s commitment to the adoption of international standards and recommendations, the legal system has been modified, amending the criminal code to include the classification of tax offenses in the proposed amendment of the criminal code act 9/2005 of 21 February.

This bill was brought before the General Council of the Principality of Andorra on 8 March 2017 to be debated in parliamentary proceedings.

Although there are many countries that have not yet codified this concept, Andorra has proceeded to do so on the basis of existing benchmarks. It should be noted that Andorra has chosen to differentiate between basic and aggravated tax offences, so that only aggravated tax offences are considered the predicate offences in money laundering, where the defrauded amount (starting at 150,000 euros) or the commission of the acts as part of a criminal organisation are the aggravating circumstances.

This bill is expected to be passed in the first half of 2017.