Buried in one of the consultative documents that accompanied the Pre-Budget Report are proposals to charge penalties of up to 200% in respect of offshore bank accounts. This is a clear message from the Government that those with undisclosed tax liabilities should consider taking advantage of either the New Disclosure Opportunity or the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility.

Consideration to a disclosure must be given to this now as one of the deadlines for telling HMRC that you intend making a disclosure is 4 January 2010. Further details can be found here.

Barry Hallam is a senior manager at Mercer & Hole. If you would like to discuss the contents of this post with Barry you can call him on 020 7353 1597.

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HMRC Revenue & Customs announced yesterday that they are taking steps to close a “highly contrived” tax avoidance scheme. The arrangements involve complex structures including both companies and trusts (possibly offshore). Some details can be found on the HMRC website and a ministerial statement will be made in Parliament today.

Maybe this will help plug the shortfall in tax receipts discussed in The Times on Saturday. The article indicates that HMRC are stepping up there investigations into Self Assessment Tax returns. The returns for the year to 5 April 2009, if not already filed, are due by the end of the month.

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