On 1 March 2016, the government of Andorra submitted draft legislation to the General Council (the country’s parliament), to introduce tax crimes into the Andorran Criminal Code for the first time. Until now, the only tax-related crime was the breach of the regulations of EU Savings Directive 2003/48/EC (2003). The proposed law, which must next be discussed in the General Council, is predicted to come into force in September 2017. In particular, the draft bill regulates two types of tax crime:
Serious tax crimes include two alternative suppositions:
- evasion of more than EUR 150,000 (about US$159,600) per type of tax unpaid per year; or
- a tax crime carried out by a criminal organization.
The penalties are 1 to 5 years imprisonment and fines of up to 4 times the amount of tax owed. Furthermore, because it is classified as a serious crime, this level of tax offense can be considered a potential element of the crime of money laundering.
Lesser crimes are those involving evasion of at least €50,000-worth (about US$53,200) of tax each year, for each kind of tax not paid. Upon conviction, the perpetrator is punished with imprisonment of 3 months to 3 years along with a fine of up to 4 times the amount of tax owed.
