News Article - 25 September 2007
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HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to target people who avoid paying tax by using offshore accounts, it has been reported.

An HMRC official told the BBC that the department is working with small private banks to access details of their customers' accounts, while also requesting the cooperation of stockbrokers and wealth managers.

Stephen Camm, head of tax investigations at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told the news provider that the move to target banks with a high number of offshore accounts "makes sense".

"The Revenue looks to audit the financial firms that have a high potential of being the most profitable for its efforts in terms of the amount of tax being avoided," he said.

In related news, HMRC is running a series of workshops across the UK giving accountants the opportunity to comment on its online services.

The event aims to show the benefits of dealing with HMRC online and the services which are currently on offer.

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