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| Liechtenstein Account Holders Have Unfair Advantage, Says Advisor |
by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London
Monday, August 17, 2009
The terms of the new tax amnesty announced recently between HM Revenue and Customs
(HMRC) and the Liechtenstein authorities puts those who will file under the UK’s
New Disclosure Opportunity at an unfair disadvantage, says PKF Accountants and
business advisors.
The Liechtenstein tax deal offers account holders the opportunity to settle
any unpaid tax with only a 10% penalty and going back only as far as 10 years.
In contrast, the NDO, set to begin in September this year, is asking UK taxpayers
with investments in other offshore jurisdictions to declare unpaid tax as far
back as 20 years. In some cases they may also have to pay a 20% rather than
a 10% penalty.
John Cassidy, Tax Investigations partner at PKF, said: “It is wholly unfair
that there are different rules for those with investments in Liechtenstein and
those with investments in other offshore jurisdictions."
“The rights or wrongs of how the original data for Liechtenstein was
obtained are one thing, but to make it clear that the data was not even used,
by offering an amnesty, takes the situation to another level. The disparity
of terms between the new amnesty and the NDO is the final nail in the coffin.”
Cassidy continued: “For those with investments in Liechtenstein there
is no doubt that this is a great opportunity to declare any undeclared income
or gains and square matters away with HMRC once and for all so I would urge
people to make use of the facility. But I also urge HMRC to align the terms
of the NDO with this new amnesty.”
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that the 20-year time limit had a hugely
negative impact on the overall amount of tax that HMRC collected for the previous
amnesty, the Offshore Disclosure Opportunity (ODF) in 2007, as many were put
off by the sheer enormity of the project; 20 years was simply seen by many as
too daunting. Today’s news only provides a further disincentive for those
supposed to use the NDO simply because they banked in a different place.”
A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series,
examining in depth the situation of offshore transparency and secrecy in a number
of the most prominent jurisdictions, is available in the Lowtax Library at
http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp
and a description of the report can be seen at
http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report2.asp
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