Offshore Disclosure: The Second Round

HM Revenue & Customs have announced the details of the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO).  The NDO was foreshadowed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget in April this year and although certain details of the scheme had become public knowledge in the last couple of months, HMRC has not formally published the details until now.

The NDO is a rerun of the Offshore Disclosure Facility (ODF) which was available in 2007.  It provides an opportunity for people with offshore accounts or assets, which have previously been concealed from HMRC, to make a disclosure of the untaxed income and gains, pay the tax, interest and a penalty and settle the matter quickly.

The rate of penalty will be 10% of the tax liability, except for those people who were written to in 2007 but who did not take advantage of the ODF at that time; in their case the penalty will be 20%.  Penalties levied in cases of undisclosed sources if income will often be in the region of 30% or more so the NDO is  a favourable basis for settling tax liabilities on undisclosed offshore income and gains.

To use the NDO it is necessary to notify an intention to make a disclosure to HMRC between certain dates:

If the notification is made on paper it must be done between 1 September and 30 November 2009
If the notification is done electronically it must be made between 1 October and 30 November 2009.
The detailed disclosures can then be made as follows:
On paper from 1 September 2009 to 31 January 2010.
Electronically from 1 October 2009 to 12 March 2010

Once the disclosure window closes on 12 March 2010, those people who have not made a disclosure but who are found to have unpaid tax liabilities related to undisclosed offshore sources, will face penalties of at least 30% rising to 100% of the tax evaded.  In the most severe cases there is also the possibility of facing a criminal prosecution.