This new tax year sees the opening of new tax disclosure facilities for offshore tax havens of Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. They offer a streamlined disclosure method for offshore hidden funds with a laid down table of reduced penalties for tax errors.
In many ways these new tax treaties are similar to the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) which has been operating for some time now. It therefore makes sense to consider them in the light of experience and lessons learned from the LDF.
The new opportunities to disclose run from 6 April 2013 to 30 September 2016. Whilst 2016 currently sounds a long way off. It is surprising how fast time goes by. Experience with LDF suggests that people are liable to procrastinate, so the sooner they get relevant information, the more likely it is they will take appropriate action before it is too late.
Registering sooner rather than later gives greater protection, because HMRC enquiries continue, and those caught in an investigation are too late to take advantage of the benefits of reduced penalties and time scope of those disclosure schemes.
Whilst Accountants hope that all their clients are honest and do not need specialist disclosure facilities, as a firm dealing in serious tax investigations we see that such hopes are sometimes dashed. It is useful to make all clients aware of the disclosure facilities, because even the most honest ones may have funds or relations who requires help. Specialist advice is essential (we can help). Sometimes the happiest way forward can be just to provide the client with contact details, so that the existing client relationship is unaffected.
