Offshore income and the RTC rule

Newsletter issue - April 2018.

HMRC are getting noticeably tougher on those who try to evade tax by hiding their assets or income offshore. They are increasing the size and range of penalties charged, and increasing the number of prosecutions of serious evaders.

Broadly, a UK-resident taxpayer has a responsibility to notify HMRC of any taxable offshore income they receive. Income is considered 'offshore income' if it comes from a territory outside the United Kingdom. It includes:

  • interest from overseas bank or building society accounts;
  • dividends and interest from overseas companies;
  • rent from overseas properties;
  • wages, benefits or royalties earned outside the UK.

New legislation, known as the Requirement to Correct (RTC), will dramatically increase the penalties for people who have not declared tax or declared the wrong amount of tax on their offshore income and gains.

The purpose of the RTC legislation is to require those with undeclared offshore tax liabilities (relating to income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax for the relevant periods) to disclose those to HMRC on or before 30 September 2018. This will allow HMRC to take the appropriate action, for example, the collection of tax, interest and any penalties due under the appropriate legislation currently in force.

30 September 2018 was chosen as the final date for corrections as this is the date by which more than 100 countries will exchange data on financial accounts under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

CRS data will significantly enhance HMRC's ability to detect offshore non-compliance and it is in taxpayers' interests to correct any non-compliance before that data is received.

To ensure there is an incentive for taxpayers to correct any offshore tax non-compliance on or before 30 September 2018, there are increased penalties for any failures to correct (FTC) by that date. The new FTC penalty is likely to be much higher than the existing penalties, with a minimum penalty of 100% of the tax involved.

If taxpayers are unsure whether they have undeclared UK tax liabilities that involve offshore matters or transfers, they should check their affairs and if necessary put things right before they become liable to the new FTC penalties that will come into force on 1 October 2018.

What our clients say about us...

  • "Paul has provided accountancy services to my company for 2 years now. I can recommend Paul very highly; his skills as an accountant are highly detailed and professional and he is always available to provide advice. One aspect of the way Paul works that I greatly appreciate is a preference to meet face to face when there is a detailed conversation to be had. I personally find this more productive and is a benefit of working with a small accountancy firm that you wouldn't get with the large faceless providers."

    ALISTAIR FAIRWEATHER - PROGRAMME & PROJECT MANAGER, DELIVERING/RESCUING I.T. 7 BUSINESS CHANGE WITH BUDGETS UPTO £50M INC SUPPIER MANAGEMENT

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    Neil Price - Managing Director at Work Relief Charity Recruitment

  • "Paul was a referral from a family member when I started my business 2 years ago. As this was the first time I had ever run my own company I was totally clueless over the financial side of matters and was worried that I may have made mistakes in any of my accounting. I needn't have worried as after enaging Paul for a set monthly fee he was always there on the end of the phone for all sorts of questions I had and no matter how trivial they were Paul gave me all the information I required and more and did an excellent and painless job at the end of my first year! Couldn't ask for any better to be honest. Just two words - hire him!!!"

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Booth & Co  |   The Hermitage  |   15a Shenfield Road  |   Brentwood  |   Essex  |   CM15 8AG        Telephone: 01277 224666    |   Email: info@boothandco.co.uk