UK to double fine for hiding funds

Thursday 10th December 2009, 3:01PM GMT.

UK Chancellor Alistair Darling at the Dispatch Box yesterday. Picture: PA Wire

THE fine for UK residents who fail to declare tax in offshore bank accounts is to double, the UK government announced in its pre-budget report yesterday.

The maximum fine for people caught offshore tax dodging will rise to double the unpaid tax. It is currently 100 per cent of the due tax. It is one of 14 new measures aimed at saving the UK government up to £5 billion in unpaid tax every year.

As part of its ‘new disclosure opportunity’ initiative, HM Revenue and Customs is encouraging people to confess if they have hidden assets in offshore accounts. If investors come clean before 4 January their penalty will be capped at ten per cent of the unpaid tax going back to April 1988.

The new 200 per cent fine will be enacted through next year’s Finance Bill and will come into effect in 2011.

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