National Audit Office Report Reveals that 6500 High Net Worth (HNW) Individuals are under Investigation
According to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) you could be under investigation by HMRC should you have a HNW of £20 million or more. HMRC set up a dedicated HNW unit in 2009 to do this. This unit contains 380 staff with a customer relationship manager assigned to each HNW individual. Last year the unit raised £416m in tax revenues.
According to the report the HNW unit together with staff in the HMRC fraud unit have pinpointed and are actively investigating forty HNW individuals who were identified in the Panama Papers. The units are also criminally investigating ten individuals believed to have practiced offshore tax avoidance, but so far only one person has been prosecuted since 2010.
The NAO report states that case value of these investigations came to a total of £1.9bn.
Marketed Avoidance Schemes
The report also stated that £1.4bn of tax from a 1000 HNWs was at risk as they were tied up in “Marketed avoidance schemes”. HMRC was “making good progress” in tacking these schemes.
The report highlighted that 137 HNWs had voluntarily told HMRC about £141m tax liabilities via the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility. This accounted for 2% of all disclosures.
In addition HMRC was investigating 151 inheritance tax records between May 2014 and April 2016.
Understanding Tax and Liabilities
If you feel you are one of the 6500 HNWs under investigation or will be soon, or perhaps you want to minimise tax liabilities, you need a good financial planner. Tax is often accrued through assets and other sources that can and does sneak up on you. It is discovering the sources of tax liabilities and manage them effectively, that will see your tax liabilities reduce.
Click here and complete the CALL BACK SERVICE form. My award winning financial planning service will help you manage your wealth and ensure that your liabilities in relation to tax are minimised.
HMRC and their worldwide equivalents are relentless in the pursuit of tax. Well managed wealth gives you more time to enjoy it and ensures you can protect it from the taxman.
Source: International Adviser
For more information, please contact Michele Carby at Holborn Asset Management on +971 50 618 6463 and on e-mail at [email protected]
