There is always more than one person who understands and works on your business at BDO, without having to pay the fees for them all.
Helpline
Call our confidential Tax Dispute Resolution Helpline for a no obligation conversation with one of our team to discuss your tax problem and see if we can assist.
Call our tax dispute resolution helpline now: 0800 0113 451
HMRC believes that there is a link between holding offshore assets and failing to declare UK tax and so considers people who hold assets overseas to be ‘high risk’ for UK tax purposes. Issues with offshore assets, foreign income, gains and transfers, will often be due to a mistake or misunderstanding. However, HMRC has found that sometimes there is a deliberate decision to under-declare the tax due by using offshore structures.
HMRC proactively addresses offshore tax non-compliance by issuing a large volume of ‘nudge’ letters to clients.
Our specialists can advise how best to approach these letters and assist with any response required. Our team of international tax professionals and ex-HMRC experts has years of expertise in offshore tax matters, and we are best placed to offer support and solutions for your unique situation.
Disclosing offshore assets and foreign income
If your offshore assets have generated income and/or capital gains, but you failed to disclose these on your UK Self-Assessment tax returns, the best advice is to proactively disclose the income and/or gains to HMRC. If you wait until HMRC begins an investigation, the eventual settlement cost is likely to be higher. It is extremely important to seek specialist advice to ensure that you are using the right disclosure option for you.
"I reached out to BDO after being stuck in a personal tax investigation that made little progress over a number of years. HMRC had become entrenched in their view that I had remained UK tax resident when I hadn’t and were seeking to assess me for a significant amount of further tax and interest, as well penalties.
The BDO team set about demonstrating to HMRC that despite limited evidence showing I was outside the UK when I said I was, that was the truth. The team used their vast knowledge of the relevant technical areas to persuade HMRC that I was indeed non-UK resident. I would describe BDO’s approach as pragmatic, honest and effective.” Mr S.
The BDO team set about demonstrating to HMRC that despite limited evidence showing I was outside the UK when I said I was, that was the truth. The team used their vast knowledge of the relevant technical areas to persuade HMRC that I was indeed non-UK resident. I would describe BDO’s approach as pragmatic, honest and effective.” Mr S.
Requirement to Correct
HMRC contacts individuals who may have needed to disclose offshore income and/or gains but failed to do so. The Requirement to Correct penalties can be up to 200% of any tax liability due plus asset-based penalties and public naming may also occur if a person knew they should correct and did not. You can still make a disclosure, and this could result in lower penalties than if you wait until HMRC starts an investigation first.
If you have received a nudge letter from HMRC or have an ongoing dispute involving an offshore asset or structure, get in touch with our specialists. We will advise and support you in the process. Delaying often just results in larger penalties, so make sure your affairs are up to date with help from our specialists.
Tax Transparency
A key facet of international efforts to crackdown on tax evasion is increased information sharing between jurisdictions worldwide. This began with the USA's FATCA programme. Most jurisdictions in the rest of the world then followed suit by agreeing to be bound by the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which facilitate annual information exchange from banks, trust companies and other financial intermediaries, via their local fiscal authorities, to the jurisdictions in which their account holders are based. Consequently, HMRC will receive an annual deluge of information about offshore bank accounts held by UK persons which it can then use to check tax returns and launch investigations.
In a similar way to the CRS, the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) requires Crypto-Asset Service Providers to identify and obtain tax information on their individual and entity clients and report details of relevant transactions in crypto-assets, with the first reporting being for the 2026 calendar year in May 2027. Read our analysis of reporting rules.
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