Guernsey Tax Amnesty Deadline Nearing

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

04 March 2011

The Guernsey government has issued a warning reminding individuals with outstanding undeclared tax balances to avail themselves of the Income Tax Irregularities Scheme (ITIS) by the deadline of March 31, 2011.

Rob Gray, Guernsey's Director of Income Tax, said: “The ITIS is an opportunity for anyone with prior tax irregularities to put the matter straight without the risk of penalties or prosecution.  It is a two-stage process, the first being the registration of the intention to make a disclosure (which is required to be made by March 31, 2011); and the second stage is to make a 'full and complete' disclosure by September 30, 2011.  It is important, therefore, that anyone wishing to take advantage of the generous terms of ITIS, who has not yet registered, takes action in the next few weeks.”

The other terms of the ITIS are:

•  A certificate must also be completed, confirming that a full disclosure has been made;
•  So long as the disclosure is full and complete, the Director will settle the matter without referring it to the Law Officers for their consideration of instituting a prosecution under the Income Tax Law;
•  No penalty will be imposed under the Income Tax Law so long as the disclosure is made within the terms of ITIS;
•  Late payment surcharges will continue to be applied (but, by law, no surcharge will be due if the total amount of unpaid liabilities is less than GBP1,000).

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