Offshore tax disclosures go online

HMRC's offshore disclosure scheme goes online from 1 October making it easier than ever to settle unpaid offshore tax on beneficial terms. The New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) enables those with unpaid taxes arising from offshore accounts or assets, to disclose them and settle any tax liabilities at a guaranteed fixed penalty rate that for most people will be 10%.

Dave Hartnett, HMRC Permanent Secretary for Tax, said: "We want to make it as easy as possible to come forward, make a full disclosure and benefit from the limited penalty. The NDO is already a straightforward process and our new web site is easy to use. But the NDO is a time limited opportunity and will be the last one for Offshore account holders so I strongly urge anyone who is concerned about tax liabilities arising from off shore investments to log on.

We want to help people get their off shore tax affairs in order as quickly and economically as possible and the simplest way to get the ball rolling is by notifying us of the intention to make a disclosure by logging onto our NDO site by 30 November at the latest.

This is the first step in a simple process that will enable those with undisclosed off shore assets to avoid the necessity of a full tax investigation together with much higher penalties."