The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) is available to anyone with an offshore bank account, providing that the account was not opened through a
Under the terms of the LDF individuals have the opportunity to declare previously undeclared liabilities in offshore accounts at a fixed penalty of just 10%.
Individuals must make a disclosure under the LDF before they receive letters from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) or risk criminal prosecution and massive fines. According to the law firm McGrigors, HMRC has just started sending letters to HSBC Swiss bank account holders informing them that they are under suspicion for tax fraud. HMRC obtained the information when a bank employee stole the data and sold it on.
Phil Berwick, Director of Tax Investigations at McGrigors, comments: “Time is running out for taxpayers with undisclosed liabilities in offshore accounts. Taxpayers have widely assumed that they have until 2015 to make a disclosure under the LDF, but if the Revenue finds them first, that opportunity is lost.”
