Tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing

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Serco only works with people and companies who are doing legitimate business.

We check who we are working with, and where money is coming from before we accept it. We do not engage in or profit from any illegal activity.

Tax evasion...
…is a type of fraud. If an individual or organisation deliberately and dishonestly sets out to evade the tax they should pay, they are trying to cheat the people and communities of those countries where they work and are meant to pay tax. That’s why tax evasion is such a serious criminal offence, and why there are severe penalties for anyone caught trying to evade tax.

We never evade tax at Serco. We have a zero-tolerance to any form of tax evasion. We won’t do it, and we won’t facilitate it either.

Money laundering...
… allows criminals, including terrorists, to take money they have gained through crime and pass it through a series of complex and deliberately obscure banking and commercial transactions, so the illegal origins are concealed, and the money is “cleaned”. The criminals then have access to what now appears to be legitimate money. It’s a highly corrupt and toxic process that finances terrorism, corrupt politicians, drug barons and criminal gangs, and destabilises societies - placing them in the grip of corruption.

Terrorist financing...
…is how terrorist organisations get money to finance their activities. Terrorism is using violence, threats or disruption to influence governments or other organisations. Terrorists may try to get money from both legitimate sources, such as businesses and charities, as well as criminal sources.

In many countries, it is illegal to finance terrorism. This means you cannot use, possess, raise funds or make arrangements to provide, money or property for the purposes of terrorism.

This can include not taking sufficient care about whether money paid will be used to finance terrorism.

Some countries, such as the UK, require businesses and individuals who, due to their work, suspect or become aware of terrorist activities or terrorist financing, to report this. Failure to report without a reasonable excuse can itself be a crime.

We are committed to preventing tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing. We do not tolerate these financial crimes in our business and we will not engage with suppliers involved in such activities. We conduct due diligence, so we know who we are dealing with and that they are a legitimate business with legitimate funds. We expect the same from you.

What we expect from you

We expect you to:

comply with all relevant laws concerning tax and preventing tax evasion, including not facilitating tax evasion by others.
only do business with customers and third parties involved in legitimate business activities, and ensure all funds and payments are from legitimate sources.
report tax information accurately and honestly.
have appropriate controls in place to prevent financial crimes and ensure these are followed.
know the warning signs of money laundering and be alert to these. For example:
- a customer or an organisation paying you, asks you to take payments in a form that is outside the normal terms of business.
- someone overpaying from multiple bank accounts or from bank accounts overseas when they are not a foreign entity.
- payments made in cash when it’s normally made by cheque or electronically.
- payments received from other third-parties.
- an advance payment is made when that’s not part of normal terms of business.
- refunds are requested to a different bank account from where the payment was made.
not be involved in any terrorist financing, and comply with all laws preventing terrorist financing, and/or which require reporting of terrorism or terrorist financing.

What you can expect from us

We are committed to:

ensuring third parties are screened to assess their identity and legitimacy before contracts are signed or transitions occur.
only doing business with customers and third parties involved in legitimate business activities, and ensuring all funds and payments are from legitimate sources.
zero tolerance for tax evasion - we never try to evade tax, get someone to do so on our behalf or help anyone else to evade tax.
taking care and being diligent in the recording and reporting of tax information (both internally or externally) and following our financial controls.
doing business right, so our proceeds are not proceeds of crime.