HMRC collects £400m from offshore account holders

An estimated 45,000 UK offshore account holders have confessed to unpaid tax bills to HM Revenue & Customs.

The individuals owned up under the partial amnesty arrangements offered by the HMRC.

Government registered a total of £400m in tax payments as taxpayers rapidly sought to take advantage of the 10% penalty cap offered by the taxman for payments made by November 26.

The highest amount paid in by an individual was £3m while the average payment was £9,000, a report said.

Revenue admitted however that the amount still fell short of the estimated £1.75bn owed by customers of five high street bank, who were forced to own up to holding offshore accounts by court orders.

But the total amount paid in could increase to £500m when payments by individuals of particularly large and complex offshore holdings - who have been given extra time to make their payments – finally settled their unpaid tax bills.

HMRC is now considering whether it should offer a similar cap to customers of 170 other banks, after it obtains court orders compelling disclosure of offshore account information.

Further reading:

Ringfencing amnesty would be a nightmare

HMRC backtracks on second tax amnesty

THE BIG QUESTION: SECOND OFFSHORE TAX AMNESTY?