HMRC Top Ten 'Hit List' , UK Swiss Tax Treaty

UK Swiss Tax Treaty terms dictated that Swiss authorities were to pass the names of the top ten countries that money has been moved to following the announcement of the agreement. It is believed that HMRC will receive the names of the destinations imminently.

There are likely to be a number of surprising destinations but speculation has been on Dubai, Singapore and potentially Israel. Importantly, the information of UK individuals who have transferred assets from Switzerland to these countries will be passed to HMRC.

The agreement between the two governments was signed in October 2011 taking effect in January 2013. The agreement was driven towards HMRC gaining access to information of UK individuals that had unpaid tax on income and gains from Swiss bank accounts.

In July 2013 a one off payment was deducted from individuals Swiss accounts who had not made a disclosure to HMRC.

The imminent announcement is likely to send further ripples amongst individuals with offshore bank accounts and HMRC will be seeking to recover the unpaid tax liabilities.

Now is the time for individuals to come forward and make a disclosure to HMRC. The Liechetenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) offers individuals more favourable terms to make a voluntary disclosure rather than running the risk of a full investigation being opened into their tax affairs.

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