HMRC makes YouTube appeal over offshore accounts

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is using social media to encourage people to declare offshore bank accounts.

A two-minute video in which Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s permanent secretary for tax, warns people about the dangers of tax dodging has been posted on YouTube.

Mr Hartnett urges people with offshore interests to come forward before November 30th to take advantage of HMRC’s tax amnesty, which was launched earlier this year.

He states in the video: ’For some people, offshore bank accounts and tax havens typically conjure up images of exotic and faraway places, well out of the reach of the taxman at home.

’Well, life’s just not like that any more.’

People who make a disclosure before the deadline will have their penalty limited to ten per cent of the unpaid tax, while those who fail to come forward could be fined up to 100 per cent.

Angela Beech, tax partner at accountant Blick Rothenberg, told the Times that the HMRC is stepping up its campaign to chase outstanding payments due to the ’huge black hole’ caused by falling tax receipts since the onset of the recession.
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