Autumn 2009 Newsletter


Contents

Tin Hats Required

Trust In Money

Beat The Hike

Expenses A - Z

On The Job Training

Pay In Lieu

Pension Pot

Opportunity Knocks

ISAy ISAy ISAy

Fair Exchange?

Scrappage

The Value Of IR35

Loss And Profit

End Of The Holidays

Da Vinci Or PAYE?

Last Orders

Foreign Peril

Quadruple Entry

It's A Date

All Change

Good Health!

O Lucky Man!

Be Prepared

An Inspector Calls

SA Or Not SA?

Now You're Asking

I Only Work Here

You Want It When?

Dirty Laundry?

No Smoke Without Fire

Corporate Manslaughter

Opportunity Knocks


In 2007, the taxman offered an "opportunity to disclose" to people who had undeclared income or gains in offshore accounts. This was prompted by HMRC obtaining lists of people who had offshore accounts with the high street banks, and finding that there were far more of them than declared foreign income on their tax returns. If people came forward then to pay the outstanding tax and interest on it, they were offered only a 10% penalty instead of the potential maximum 100%.

Now there will be another opportunity, running from September 2009 to 12 March 2010. The same 10% penalty is offered, but it will be doubled to 20% for anyone who knew about the previous opportunity and failed to come forward. It will be essential to notify HMRC by 30 November 2009 that a disclosure is coming, with the details to follow later. Anyone who fails to take advantage now can expect a higher penalty if they are discovered later by HMRC.

If you have any foreign accounts and are not sure whether you have anything to declare, we can advise you.