HMRC cracks down on Swiss bank accounts

Date: 30th August 2011

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has pledged to crack down on offshore tax evasion tactics by UK small businesses with Swiss bank accounts.

It has formed an agreement with Switzerland to target tax evaders by imposing a deduction of 19-34 per cent on past tax liabilities.

This will come ahead of a new withholding tax of 48 per cent on investment income and 27 per cent on gains from 2013. HMRC will also find out about UK Swiss bank account holders through a new information sharing provision.

The Swiss government has also agreed to make an up-front payment to the UK of CHF 500 million (£372 million), while the changes are expected to bring in billions of pounds of unpaid tax.

"Tax evasion is wrong at the best of times, but in economic circumstances like this it means that hard-pressed law-abiding taxpayers are forced to pay even more," Chancellor George Osborne said.

He stressed that the government will be as tough on tax evaders as it is on benefit cheats.

"The days when it was easy to stash the profits of tax evasion in Switzerland are over," Mr Osborne remarked.

Posted by Thomas Fletcher