Press Release
22 April 2009
New offshore tax amnesty announced at Budget
As announced in the Pre-Budget Report, a second "Offshore Disclosure Facility" - with a slightly different name - has been confirmed and it has been announced that it will run until 2010.
According to law firm McGrigors, HMRC’s dilemma is whether the "carrot" is a 10 per cent fixed penalty as with the previous facility, or whether that has to be increased (so as to preserve the advantage of those who came forward first time round).
James Bullock, Partner in McGrigors Tax Disputes and Investigations practice, says: “Everyone except senior HMRC Officers seems to accept that the first tax amnesty was not a resounding success, notwithstanding that it brought forward 65,000 disclosures. It is to be hoped that the second tax amnesty will be better publicised and that the "downside" of not coming forward will be made clearer - namely more prosecutions."
"It will be interesting to see how the second tax amnesty will interact with HMRC's other measure to clamp down on non-compliance – namely "naming and shaming" taxpayers who have understated their tax. Will the people coming forward under the second tax amnesty be given exemption? Whilst this shaming measure is probably proportionate, it is hoped that HMRC will not go so far as to publish private addresses, which could risk encouraging vigilante-ism."
Andy Peat
Business Development Director
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7054 2710
Mobile: +44 (0)7894 835 386
Email: andy.peat@mcgrigors.com
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