Treasury minister criticises offshore tax evasion

Offshore tax evasion has been described as ’morally unacceptable’ by Treasury minister Stephen Timms.

Speaking following the news from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that around 10,000 people have failed to declare their offshore assets, he noted that hiding money in accounts outside of the UK ’robs public services of funding and places an unfair burden on the honest majority of taxpayers’.

He added that the government will be bringing forward new measures to crack down on offshore tax evasion during 2010 in order to discourage those that are still tempted to try and hide their funds.

A HRMC campaign offering people the chance to pay a reduced penalty if they declare their offshore assets ended on Monday (January 4th) and the body is now collecting data from banks in order to chase up those who should have come forward but did not.

The initiative had been extended in November, a move that was welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Taxation, which praised HMRC for giving people more time.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19550259-ADNFCR