1. Private Clients
1.1 Agreement with Switzerland to "secure billions
in unpaid tax"
The Government has initialled an agreement with Switzerland with
the aim of tackling offshore tax evasion and is expected to secure
billions of pounds of unpaid tax for the UK exchequer from
2013.
It is expected to be formally signed in the coming months. It
will then go through Parliamentary and administrative procedures
before being signed later in the year. The full text will be
published at the time of signature.
Accounts held by individual UK taxpayers in Switzerland will be
subject to a one-off deduction in 2013, of between 19% and 34%, as
long as the account was open on 31 December 2010 and is open on 31
May 2013. This deduction is to "settle income tax, capital
gains tax, inheritance tax and VAT liabilities in relation to the
funds in the account". The deduction will not be applied if
the account holder instructs the bank to disclose details of the
account to HMRC.
