Yes

This is HMRV’s nbext step, I hope

Richard

Most accountants in Jersey, Guernsey and the IoM are members of UK Institutes.

I do think they are at the core of the offshore problem.

I do think this is a problem for the UK institutes.

But I bet they’ll deny it.

Richard

Richard

I disagree with the implications of what is said by Dennis and you on this specific issue - ie the tax amnesty prompted by disclosure of UK resident holders of offshore bank accounts.

There is no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of professionally qualified accountants in practice in the UK would never suggest to a client that it was legal and acceptable to fail to declare interest in the UK on a simple offshore bank account. First they know it to be tax evasion and stepping down from their moral high ground, there is no money in it for the accountant, only risk. An accountant would of course be happy to create, say, an offshore trust arrangement, which would necessarily involve foreign assets, bank accounts and income as this generates fees for the accountant and is mostly legal even if you don’t like the morals of it, but this is not the type of situation aimed at by this amnesty. I venture to suggest that this would also in general apply to accountants in the tax havens themselves. I might have become naïve, but I know from my own past personal experience that offshore accountants generally tell the client that interest on a personal offshore ccount will be liable to home country income tax and should be declared - beyond that the offshore accountant has no further knowledge or responsibility or indeed power to do anything at all.

Banks and their salesmen, in contrast and again in my experience, have less compunction about failing to tell clients the law and nodding and winking about failure to declare the interest as has been suggested by Simon Sweetman in Dennis’ blog and banks have direct monetary interest in a person opening an account with them as it generates income for the bank and often, as commission, for the salesman.

Accountants are involved in corruption, as are members every other profession, but I disagree with the inference I draw from Dennis’ comments that it is a common scenario for a UK client to, say, approach an offshore bank about opening an account, then ask a UK accountant for tax advice and either be told that interest is not taxable or that if he keeps quiet, HMRC will never find out and for that client and UK accountant to continue in their relationship with the client failing to disclose taxable offshore income. There may be a few bad apples, but not many and certainly this is not widespread as you and Dennis seem to me to be implying.

What is much more likely, and where I think this whole amnesty is aimed, is for a person to open an offshore account and either not to have an accountant at all, or to fail to disclose the account’s existence to the accountant. In the case of accountants doing tax return work in most cases I would suggest those clients would be wilfully or negligently ignoring the usual confirmation requests by accountants to confirm that all income and assets have been disclosed to them.

Finally, it is quite common for people to make investments, both simple and complex, and never go anywhere near an accountant, let alone a tax accountant, for tax advice on those investments.