Another last chance for declarations to HMRC of Offshore Bank Accounts!

The deadline for notifying HMRC of a previously undeclared offshore bank account under the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) has been extended by HM Revenue & Customs to 4 January 2010. Although HMRC have put the appropriate spin on their announcement we can presume that the deadline has been extended because HMRC have not received as many disclosures as they were expecting.

Any disclosures made under the NDO will attract, in most cases, a fixed penalty of only 10% of any tax due.

Offshore bank accounts include those held in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
We do not expect the deadline to be moved again and therefore if you think that you may need to make a disclosure please contact John Davies, our specialist on Revenue enquiries, to discuss as soon as possible. We finish with a festive quote from Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax:

"This is a great way to start the New Year – with the knowledge that your tax affairs are in order and the certainty that the penalty will be capped at 10 percent."