UK Declares War On Offshore Tax Evasion

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

11 January 2010

The UK government has confirmed that just 10,000 individuals used its latest offshore tax amnesty known as the New Disclosure Opportunity, which expired on January 4.

Tax experts had been predicting a low-take up by offshore account holders of the new scheme, but considering that Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was hoping that the NDO would raise GBP1bn in additional tax revenues, the government must be disappointed by the response.

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted recently that HM Revenue and Customs would collect about GBP135m in back taxes, interest and penalties from the scheme, which capped penalties at 10% for most disclosures, based on 13,000 voluntary declarations.

Blasting offshore tax evasion as "morally unacceptable", Treasury Minister Stephen Timms warned those who insist on hiding assets offshore that HMRC has data on customers of more than 300 banks, and those found not to have made a disclosure will face penalties of up to 100% in future if collared by the tax man.

"Hiding money in offshore accounts to evade tax is economically and morally unacceptable. It robs public services of funding and places an unfair burden on the honest majority of taxpayers," Timms remarked.

“Some people will still be tempted, and that is why the government will bring forward measures during 2010 to build on the significant progress made both in the UK and globally during 2009 in closing down offshore tax evasion for good," he added.

Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax confirmed that HMRC is beginning the job of using the data obtained from banks to identify people who have not made disclosures.

However, he stressed that penalties may still be reduced for those who make a voluntary declaration "This means it's still well worth contacting HMRC if you have undisclosed offshore accounts," he stated.

Hartnett also revealed that HMRC is examining information about offshore accounts in order to identify intermediaries who have assisted UK residents in setting offshore financial arrangements in order to avoid UK tax.

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