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HMRC Worldwide Disclosure Facility & Late Tax Filing

Governments across the world are getting tougher in their approach to tackling those who don’t declare the correct amount of tax due on their offshore assets. If you have investments overseas, it is important to make sure that you declare all taxable income and gains on your UK tax return.

Here at Ingleton Partners, we’re highly experienced in assisting taxpayers whose UK tax filings are delinquent or have been previously incomplete, particularly as it relates to international tax affairs.

HMRC Offshore Disclosure

If you need help deciding whether you have paid the right amount of tax, get in touch with our specialist team today. We can help check your affairs and discuss the options available to you and, if you need to make a disclosure.

Where a disclosure program is available, it’s possible to mitigate penalties and provide a structured route forward. Since 30 September 2016 this has included the HMRC Worldwide Disclosure Facility. Otherwise alternative routes are required to bring your affairs up to date and make disclosure first before discovery occurs.

The WDF is available to anyone who is disclosing a UK tax liability that relates wholly or in part to an offshore issue. This includes:

• income arising from a source outside the UK
• assets situated or held outside the UK
• activities carried on wholly or mainly outside the UK
• where the funds connected to unpaid tax are transferred outside the UK

Why you should disclose now

If you haven’t declared your income and gains and HMRC finds out later, you’ll face an investigation and will have to pay the undeclared tax plus a penalty of up to double the tax you owe. However, making use of the Worldwide Disclosure Facility to make a full disclosure of all undeclared liabilities may avoid the need for investigation and future penalties.

In recent years we have completed projects disclosing complex offshore trust structures, offshore accounts and remittances of large sums into the UK, coordinating with HMRC in an appropriate manner. Sometimes the omission might be small, a simple bank account, or it might be a misunderstanding of the tax treatment in the UK of a trust compared to the US where it is founded.

Our experience also includes handling HMRC checks and enquiries into tax returns which can often be the first time individuals realise they have an issue or need professional help.

All in all this can be a stressful time, particularly if you find yourself in this situation inadvertently. We will aim to put you mind at ease and act as your advocate, lay out the situation for you and a route forward with time frames, a calculation of the tax and a plan to mitigate any penalty.