Offshore tax amnesty

Do you get income from overseas such as holiday home rent or offshore savings interest? If you do, but haven’t declared it to the Taxman, HMRC has offered an amnesty until 22 June 2007. This reduces the penalty to 10% rather than 100% and avoids prosecution although there should be no penalty if the tax at stake is less than £2,500.

New information sharing rules between countries make it much easier for the Taxman to trace you. You should expect the Taxman to hit you hard if he catches anyone after the amnesty period has expired.

The tax, interest and penalties have to be paid by 26 November 2007. It has been estimated that this amnesty could net £5bn for HMRC.

It is also possible to use this amensty to sort out any onshore undeclared income and benefit from the reduced penalties.