Other banks will be hit by offshore clampdown
Barclays will not be the only bank compelled to hand over customer records to government
Other banks will also be hit by HM Revenue & Customs’ crackdown on
offshore accounts, after a landmark ruling by the special commission forced
Barclays to hand over the details of thousands of customer accounts.
A Barclays spokeswoman confirmed that the ruling by special commissioner John
Avery Jones did refer to Barclays specifically, but added that the ruling would
not be limited to the FTSE100 bank.
‘This issue is not specific to Barclays. It is an industry issue that will
affect other financial institutions,’ she said, adding that Barclays will comply
with the ruling.
HMRC hopes that the ruling will enable it to yield £1.5bn in unpaid tax.
Government officials will now be able to search individual records and fish out
people who have not declared income on cash held in offshore centres such as the
Channel Islands.
