Jump In Foreign Requests For UK Tax Information
The number of requests from foreign governments for tax information from the UK rose by 45 percent in 2013, according to international law firm Pinsent Masons.
2,466 requests were received by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the year to December 31, 2013, up from 1,701 recorded in 2012.
James Bullock, a Partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “The UK, [and in particular] London, attracts many high net worth foreign nationals that come here to live or invest. Some will use the UK as a stable safe haven for their wealth, while others simply see the economy as attractive. Inevitably nearly all of them will have relatively complex tax affairs.”
“Even countries that do not have a desperate need to shore up their public finances are stepping up their fight against tax evasion, because it makes sense to use the new ways to obtain information that are becoming available to them.”
Norway made the largest number of requests, with 690, with an increase of 149 on the previous year. There was a 40 percent rise in the number of direct requests made by Ukraine, and there was a significant increase in requests from France, Poland, and Spain.
Pinsent Masons pointed out that Norway has long sought to achieve transparency on tax issues and publishes details of individual taxpayers’ tax payments. In 2010, the Government introduced a tax amnesty that allowed those making voluntary disclosures to pay only back taxes and interest, without the normal 60 percent penalty charge.
