A number of taxpayers are currently considering whether or not to disclose to HMRC that they have a swiss bank account.
HMRC has a considerable amount of information about these accounts and word is spreading that there are a number of people already under enquiry for having failed to disclose an account.
Whilst HMRC are of course seeking to tax the interest which has been credited to these accounts, of far greater interest to them is where the funds which have been deposited in the account came from in the first place and was it from a taxable source?
A legitimate,and cost effective route to take in disclosing a swiss account is to open an account in Lichtenstein and then make a disclosure using the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility(LDF).
The LDF has now been extended to 6 April 2016, it requires a disclosure covering the period from 1999 onwards rather than 20 years,and carries a reduced penalty of only 10%,which is considerably less than most tax inspectors would charge if HMRC launched an enquiry outside of LDF.
A Lichtenstein bank account is simple to open. We can arrange this on the same day as receiving the instruction together with the usual money laundering information. HMRC confirms that this is acceptable under most circumstances. The added advantage of following this route is that in most cases HMRC will accept the disclosure without raising further enquiries. This keeps professional fees under control and brings a swift end to the stress suffered by the client.
