Offshore credit cards under investigation
Government demands credit records in latest tax evasion clampdown
HM Revenue & Customs is to force credit card companies to hand over
records in its latest crack down on tax evasion, it has been reported.
Link: Tax
advisers face stiff penalties from HMRC
The department has issued production orders on a number of credit card
issuers on off-shore accounts.
It suspects that UK-based customers are using their credit and debit cards on
accounts based in tax havens such as the Channel Islands, and are failing to
declare their earned interest and pay the appropriate amount of tax.
According to the Financial Times, HM Revenue & Customs, the newly merged
department of the former Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, is examining up
to 30,000 records.
So far, it is focusing on 1,000 individuals with law firm DLA Piper Rudnick
Gray Cary, and claims that a number will be prosecuted.