However some people and businesses based in the UK try to avoid paying tax on overseas investments. As a result 
the UK Government has toughened its approach in tackling those who don’t declare the correct amounts of tax due on their offshore income and assets. New international collaboration to share information and laws to tackle non-compliance has started.
From the 5th September there is still a chance to bring all your tax affairs up to date if you have worldwide income that’s not been taxed before through the Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF).
The WDF is now available to anyone who is disclosing a UK tax liability that relates wholly or in part to an offshore issue. This includes:
- income arising from a source outside the UK
- assets situated or held outside the UK
- activities carried on wholly or mainly outside the UK
- where the funds connected to unpaid tax are transferred outside the UK
If you have undeclared income offshore and you need help to decide whether you’ve paid the right amount of tax, talk to us. The Bedrock team can check your affairs and discuss the options if you need to make a disclosure to HMRC.
From 5 September 2016 disclosures to HMRC can be made via the online Digital Disclosure Service and you will first need to notify your intention to disclose. We would recommend that you talk to us before you do this so we can help you manage the process as there are very strict regulations around doing so and deadlines you can’t afford to miss.
Once you have notified an intention to make a disclosure, you will have 90 days to:
- collate the information needed to complete the disclosure
- calculate the final liabilities including tax, duty, interest and penalties
- complete the disclosure, using the unique disclosure reference number provided when notifying
If you’re not resident in the UK for tax purposes (a UK taxpayer) you won’t usually be liable to pay tax in the UK on your offshore income and gains. You should check what’s taxable and check your residency status. Over 100 countries have committed to new international agreements that will let HMRC see more about overseas accounts held by you.
