Tax disclosure and transparency

Both individuals and businesses are affected by the changes and many taxpayers have chosen to review their historic affairs in order to check both whether any questions raised by global information exchanges can be explained swiftly and accurately, and also whether historic advice taken remains up to date and compliant with new tax law.

Deloitte has a specialist team of tax dispute resolution experts, assisting individuals, family offices, trustees and corporate clients in both a pre-litigation and a litigation stage of discussions with HMRC. These specialists work alongside colleagues who focus on risk governance reviews, FATCA and CRS compliance programmes and forensic analysis.

Understand what tax transparency means for you

Our team of leading experts can help you understand what tax transparency means for you. This can include:

• Helping you understand which jurisdictions and tax authorities information will be exchanged with, and how this relates to the information already provided via accurate and complete returns
• Discussing your potential risk profile with global tax authorities with you
• Assisting you in HMRC enquiry discussions, including cross-tax enquiries and Code of Practice 8
• Assisting you in making full and complete disclosure to HMRC, e.g. under COP 9 / CDF; under the Worldwide Disclosure Facility
• Keeping you informed on recent new legislation, e.g. the Requirement to Correct
• Negotiating on your behalf with HMRC on tax-geared penalties,
• Explaining HMRC’s formal information powers and applying those to information requests served during an enquiry
• Analysing the application of HMRC’s assessment and discovery powers in relation to your tax position, and
• Assisting you in Alternative Dispute Resolution and mediations with HMRC

Deloitte’s team of experts also remains up to date with the ongoing changes, whether through feedback to HMRC on government tax consultations affecting the tax enquiry framework, speaking at conferences alongside HMRC on current issues and providing webinars to clients and connectors on hot topics. Sign up for the team’s quarterly newsletter.

Deloitte UK’s tax controversy and risk experts cover a wide range of taxes and all cycles of the risk cycle from pre-dispute governance and risk reviews through to litigation. Discover more about litigation support from Deloitte Legal.

Newsfeed

1st May 2019: UK to force overseas territories to publish beneficial ownership registers.

January 2019: HMRC have issued their next wave of ‘nudge letters’ on overseas income and overseas work day patterns

10 January 2019: HMRC launch Diverted Profits Tax disclosure facility

November 2018: House of Lords report criticises HMRC for the restriction on taxpayer safeguards

30 September 2018: end of the Requirement to Correct period; start of Failure to Correct penalties

19 February 2018: HMRC launches consultation into 12 year assessment window for offshore matters

19 February 2018: OECD publishes consultation on residency investment visas as an anti-CRS measure

19 January 2018: HMRC commit to more and more public beneficial ownership registers

11 Dec 2017: OECD publish consultation on mandatory disclosures for offshore structures and CRS avoidance

1 Dec 2017: HMRC publish the results of the requirement to notify offshore structures consultation; debate to continue

30 Nov 2017: European Parliament confirms that they will be investigating the findings of the Paradise Papers

22 Nov 2017: The Chancellor announces that HMRC will consult on extending the offshore assessing window to at least 12 years for all cases

31 October 2017: HMRC update their litigation and settlement strategy

26 October 2017: HMRC attribute to shrinking tax gap to more efficient compliance processing and anti-evasion measures

20 June 2017: Worldwide Disclosure Facility terms updated to extend filing dates for complex disclosures

6 April 2017: A statutory Requirement to Correct UK tax errors from offshore income or assets comes into force today

1 April 2017: New asset-based penalties and tax-geared penalty rates are now in force on tax liabilities due from offshore income and assets

1 April 2017: New rules are now in force giving HMRC greater powers to publish taxpayers’ details following tax enquiries

16 March 2017: HMRC have set 1 April as the commencement date for revised penalties on tax from offshore income and assets, and new rules on publishing taxpayer details

27 Feb 2017: HMRC consultation closes on requirement to notify offshore structures

5 February 2017: 2 months left before HMRC’s Serial Tax Avoiders Regime takes full effect

5 February 2017: 2 months left before the statutory Requirement to Correct comes in

1 January 2017: HMRC have declared that civil sanctions on enablers of offshore tax evasion will have effect from 1 January 2017

5 December 2016: HMRC launch consultation on a new requirement to notify HMRC of offshore structures

November 2016: HMRC confirm sanctions to be applied to enablers of defeated tax avoidance

October 2016: HMRC guidance released on corporate criminal offence to prevent failure of tax evasion facilitation

5 September 2016: HMRC launch their Worldwide Disclosure Facility and the accompanying Digital Disclosure Service

13 June 2016: HMRC release factsheet on the higher penalties which may be charged for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax when an offshore matter is involved

13 April 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron announces bringing forward civil and criminal penalties for enablers – providers of tax, financial and related services need to review internal procedures to comply with new rules

Regularising tax affairs

A new statutory obligation from April 2017 means that all taxpayers will have a requirement to correct any errors in their historic tax position on offshore assets and income. From October 2018, tax matters not brought up-to-date will enter the “Failure to Correct” regime with tougher penalties attached.

Alongside this, HMRC’s Worldwide Disclosure Facility opened on 5 September 2016 for taxpayers wishing to make corrections to their UK tax position. Globally, different jurisdictions have their own specific rules for regularising tax matters.

In some cases, even where taxpayers have sought to be compliant with their reporting obligations, a fresh review of matters may reveal that innocent errors have unintentionally been made. If this is the case, then a prompt and full disclosure is recommended to HMRC.

At Deloitte we have a proven track record of preparing disclosures to tax authorities in the UK and overseas, including in dispute resolution and mediation in more complex cases.

Publications

Making Tax Digital: an overview of data analytics, tax transparency and how the private wealth world is responding.

Tax Transparency: a beginners’ guide to the key tax transparency changes and their impact

HMRC's information powers: a summary of what information the UK tax authorities can request and responding to HMRC requests

Corporate Criminal Offence for Failure to Prevent Facilitation of Tax Evasion: a guide for business on the new Failure to Prevent Facilitation of Tax Evasion and building a defence