HMRC offshore tax evasion announcement

A new HMRC publicity campaign has been launched to remind taxpayers with undeclared offshore income that the Liechtenstein and Crown Dependency disclosure facilities will close in December 2015 to be replaced by a tougher penalty regime and new methods for exchanging financial account information. These include the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories Agreements in 2016 and worldwide common reporting standard in 2017. David Gauke the Financial Secretary to the Treasury said: ‘Under our new regime the small minority who evade tax offshore facilitate or turn a blind eye to offshore tax evasion will face tougher sanctions. With over 90 jurisdictions now agreeing to automatic exchanges of information the net is closing in on offshore tax evaders.’