On Tuesday 11 March, UK HMRC announced significant changes to the classification of Financial Institutions (FIs) and the annual FATCA reporting obligations. HMRC has confirmed that UK FIs will not be required to file ‘nil returns’ for FATCA purposes. Previously all UK FIs were required to file a return even where there were no reportable […]

Tax professionals have warned that a proposed “strict liability” criminal offence of failing to declare offshore income and gains could result in taxpayers who have no criminal intent being sent to jail. James Bullock, head of litigation and compliance at the law firm Pinsent Masons, said the detailed proposals are “more moderate than many had […]

“We hope that this case serves as a warning to others that VAT fraud and the laundering of criminal profit is an extremely serious offence.  HMRC is committed to catching those businesses and individuals who make false claims and who attempt to defraud the government. A West Yorkshire woman, who funded a celebrity lifestyle with […]

Jersey has signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with HM Treasury agreeing to a number of tax information exchange measures. The UK has now signed automatic tax information exchange agreements with the three Crown Dependencies – Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The agreements are available on the HMRC FATCA site. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/fatca/index.htm  

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued guidance on the implementation of the International Tax Compliance (United States of America) Regulations 2013, which come into force on 1 September 2013. The guidance is designed to assist businesses, their advisers and HMRC staff and applies, in particular to, UK financial institutions, UK entities that will […]

After publishing a list of 20 ‘most wanted’ tax evaders last year, HMRC admits it has so far caught just one – but adds ten new names to the list Ten new alleged tax-dodgers have been added to the Government’s most-wanted list, even though just one of the original 20 has been caught in the […]

HMRC has published draft regulations for compliance with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).  The draft regulations are published alongside guidance notes, a tax information and impact note, and an explanatory webpage. The regulations are expected to come into force in mid-August and will apply to financial accounts (as defined in the legislation) held at […]

A joint investigation by the UK, the US and Australia to identify those using offshore tax havens to hide wealth has uncovered more than 100 people. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said some of these were already under investigation for tax evasion, the BBC reports. It said it has obtained large quantities of documents […]