The UK Financial Secretary to the Treasury is warning offshore tax evaders that the government will soon begin receiving information about UK taxpayers from more than ninety countries under the international agreement on automatic exchange of information coming into effect in the next few years.
Taxpayers are therefore being urged to make disclosures under the existing facilities that are about to expire. Currently the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility and Crown Dependency Disclosure Facilities are in effect but these programs are to close on 31 December 2015. A final, stricter disclosure facility will be available in 2016.
New penalties were announced in the Autumn Statement on 25 November2015 including a new criminal offense for offshore evasion. Higher financial penalties for offshore evasion include a penalty linked to the value of assets in an offshore bank account. There is also a new penalty for anyone enabling others to evade tax.
The UK tax authority HMRC has published a document on its website entitled Ten things about offshore assets and income which includes information on the disclosure facilities and how to disclose them to HMRC.
