UK government issues disclosure facility deadline reminder

The UK Government has issued a reminder that existing taxpayer disclosure facilities will be replaced by a tougher, “last chance” regime from 2016, reports Tax News.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke has launched a campaign that explains how the new regime will work. He said that the UK’s existing disclosure facilities – including the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility and the Crown Dependency Disclosure Facilities – will close on December 31, 2015. In addition, under new global agreements, HM Revenue and Customs will, from 2017, receive details on UK taxpayers’ financial affairs from more than 90 countries.

Under a package of measures announced in the March 2015 Budget, the Government will introduce a new criminal offence for offshore evasion, and a separate criminal offence for corporates that fail to prevent evasion or the facilitation of evasion. There will be higher financial penalties for evaders, including a penalty linked to the value of the asset kept in an offshore bank account, and civil penalties for those who enable evasion.

Gauke said: “Hiding money in another country at the expense of honest UK taxpayers is not acceptable and we have made it clear we will put a stop to it. Under our new regime the small minority who evade tax offshore, facilitate, or turn a blind eye to offshore tax evasion will face tougher sanctions. With over 90 jurisdictions now agreeing to automatic exchanges of information, the net is closing in on offshore tax evaders.”