ICAEW 'supportive of HMRC initiative'

News Article - 26 April 2007
Category: Business

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is urging Britons with offshore accounts to weigh up their options following recommendations given by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Earlier this month, HMRC announced that people with offshore accounts who had not declared their income would face a ten per cent penalty in addition to any tax and interest due to be paid for a limited time.

This is potentially much less than may be sought otherwise, the ICAEW states.

Paul Aplin, incoming chairman at the ICAEW tax faculty, said: "This initiative provides people who have not declared income or gains an opportunity to do so.

"The ten per cent penalty is very light and normally penalties in excess of 30 per cent could be expected."

He added that the institute was keen to receive guidance from HMRC on how the tax body would operate its prosecution policy on disclosures which were incomplete or incorrect, stating that he was interested to find out how certain taxpayers could be that they would not face further investigation after coming forward.

The deadline for registering a disclosure was April 22nd, under which Britons could register irregularities going as far back as 19 years ago without facing hefty penalties.

Article keywords:

---

More industry news

• Think tank warns UK may have already slipped back into recession
• Growing demand for HR staff in technology and international sectors
• Boosting business growth a ‘priority’ to avoid Eurozone slowdown
• HMRC launches alternative disputes pilot scheme this week
• December employment statistics disregard gloomy recruitment predictions
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

Back to news home page »