The CRS is an international agreement, currently with 100 countries, to exchange financial information between banks, financial institutions and tax authorities on a global basis, in order to reduce the level of tax evasion being conducted by certain individuals.
The first reports under the CRS were made by the “early adopter” countries (50 out of the 100) in September 2017. The remaining 50 countries, “late adopters”, will have submitted their first reports by September 2018.
The information which has and will be exchanged will include, name, address, bank interest, and account balance. Where there may be nominee entities, such as offshore companies and trusts, the financial institution will report on the relevant “controlling person” or beneficial person(s).
Where individuals have previously not reported income or gains to the UK tax authorities, it is possible to utilise HMRC’s Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF) in order to regularise matters.
This is particularly important as after September 2018, HMRC will instigate financial penalties (potentially up to 200% and in the most serious of cases a 10% asset based penalty) for anyone who has not and should have reported overseas income and gains on their tax returns, via the “Requirement to Correct” and “Failure to Correct” legislation.
Why you should contact us
Our experienced team has a significant amount of experience in offshore tax matters and will be able to assist you and guide you through which disclosure process best meets your needs.
We are able to manage the appropriate tax disclosure process to ensure liabilities are kept to a minimum. Where appropriate, we can also assist with the drafting of any formal tax disclosure report.
For more information or help from one of our tax investigation specialists, please contact us using our enquiry form.
