Taxman confirms 10,000 offshore declarations

Just 10,000 people have declared untaxed funds held offshore in the latest UK
tax amnesty,
HM Revenue
& Customs’ confirmed.

Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the
Treasury,
said those still hiding money offshore was “morally unacceptable”, and the
taxman would bring forward measures over the next year to close down offshore
tax evasion “for good”.

“It robs public services of funding and places an unfair burden on the honest
majority of taxpayers.”

Chris Oates, tax partner in
E&
Y’s tax controversy and risk management practice, said the figure
was “significantly lower” than expected, and would have adverse effect on HMRC.

“It does mean that HMRC may have to commit a lot more resources to
investigating people who have not come forward than they would have hoped,”
said Oates.

“This could have significant resource implications for HMRC if they are to
deal with it appropriately at a time when they are looking to substantially
reduce staffing numbers.”

Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s permanent secretary for tax, said: “Now the NDO is
closed, HMRC is beginning the job of using the data we have obtained from banks
to identify people who have not made disclosures despite having hidden their
money offshore.”

Further reading:

50%
tax has failed