May 2006

Offshore Clampdown

Recently the government obtained the largest ever disclosure order against Barclays Bank which will enable it to obtain details of hundreds of thousands of individual bank accounts to reclaim £1.5bn in tax.

Other banks and financial institutions will also be hit as the ruling does not refer to Barclays specifically.

The ruling will see offshore accounts scrutinised and officials will now be able to search individual records and find people who have not declared income on cash held in offshore centres such as the Channel Islands.

Many, such as non-domicillaries, may not have UK tax obligations on any interest earned on the accounts, but others will.