Over the last few years, HM Revenue & Customs and other international tax authorities have been working together on Common Reporting Standards whereby information on investments, bank accounts and other assets can be shared across the world. The number of jurisdictions signed up to this currently number over 100 and many more are being added.
The upshot of this is that HMRC will soon know, if they do not already have the information, for every UK resident, income and capital gains arising from every investment, bank account and other asset wherever it is situated in the world. Taxpayers who have not declared overseas income will be found out and consequences including tax costs, interest, penalties and, potentially, criminal sanctions could follow.
There is, however, a facility available (the Worldwide Disclosure Facility) whereby taxpayers can make voluntary disclosures with the likelihood of reducing their penalty exposure.
If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please let us know.
29/08/2017
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