UK Will Crack Down on Persons with Offshore Accounts

On January 16, 2003, the tax media reported the UK?s Inland Revenue (IR) announced this week that it plans to crack down on the thousands of British investors and savers who open accounts overseas in order to avoid paying UK tax on their income. Speaking to the Times Newspaper, unnamed sources close to the Revenue suggested that the Inland Revenue Authority believes that up to $7 billion was thought to disappear from the UK to accounts in countries such as the republic of Ireland, Switzerland, and France each year. The Revenue plans to investigate persons whom financial institutions advise to place money overseas for tax planning purposes. The Revenue will scrutinize people who are using this sort of account as a vehicle to avoid paying tax.