 PKF calls for extended amnesty deadline to avoid tax increases
24 November 2009: Just a few days before the 30th November registration deadline for the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO), offshore account holders are finally taking interest in HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) latest amnesty to collect back taxes.
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 | But, according to PKF Accountants & business advisers, the last minute rush is not down to HMRC’s Dave Hartnett’s recent appearance on YouTube to talk about the amnesty, it is simply because a small percentage of the offshore account holders have received a simple letter from HMRC. John Cassidy, tax investigation and dispute resolution partner at PKF, says: “"We have had more enquiries about the NDO in the last couple of days, since HMRC’s letters arrived, than in the whole period since the NDO started on 1 September. It is not simply that people have left it until the last minute, but that they have only now become aware that some sort of issue exists: every single caller has queried what the letter from HMRC is all about.” |
In a recent interview with Taxation Magazine, Dave Hartnett confirmed that when the previous offshore account amnesty was carried out, the 200,000 letters that HMRC sent out in the final weeks led to 58,000 registrations and raised millions in back taxes. But John Cassidy points out: “This time round, HMRC has only written to 35,000 offshore account holders because it has not yet managed to obtain contact details from the vast majority of the 308 banks it has approached for this amnesty.
“As personal letters combined with discounted penalties that the NDO offers clearly work, it seems pointless to end the registration period before HMRC has had a chance to write to the majority of the people that could be affected. There could be over a hundred and fifty thousand account holders that will miss out simply because they have flicked past HMRC’s adverts in the press and not seen Dave on YouTube.”
Many of the banks from whom HMRC has requested details are challenging HMRC’s right to the account holder information through the courts: it could be well into the spring before all the cases are sorted out and the account holder’s data passed to HMRC.
John Cassidy says “Amnesties can’t go on for ever, but there has clearly been a big flaw in implementing the NDO and the Government could miss out on millions in back taxes – at a time when it is already considering tax increases to raise money. The previous amnesty proved that there is nothing like a personal letter from HMRC to motivate individuals to come clean on offshore accounts. The NDO registration deadline should be extended until at least 6 April 2010 to give HMRC a fighting chance of writing to every offshore account holder personally.”
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For further information, please contact:
Jane Murray, PR, 020 7065 0135, jane.murray@uk.pkf.com
Notes to Editors:
- PKF is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers with more than 1,500 partners and staff operating in 23 offices in the UK mainland firm, a wholly-owned financial planning company and associated offshore practices. The firm specialises in advising growing and entrepreneurial/owner-managed businesses, AIM and fully listed companies, and also has extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Principal services include assurance and advisory; taxation; consultancy; corporate recovery and insolvency; corporate finance and forensic. The firm has particular expertise in advising sectors such as hotels and leisure; mining and resource; public sector; real estate and construction; professional practices; not-for-profit; and medical. The firm’s web site is www.pkf.co.uk.
- PKF (UK) LLP also offers financial services through its FSA authorised company, PKF Financial Planning Limited. PKF (Isle of Man) LLC is a limited liability company registered in the Isle of Man. PKF (Guernsey) Limited is incorporated in Guernsey.
- PKF (UK) LLP is a member firm of the PKF International Limited network of legally independent firms. The PKF International Limited network has more than 14,650 people operating in 119 countries around the world.
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