HMRC sets June deadline for offshore 'amnesty'

The Revenue says it has decided to launch the ‘Offshore Disclosure Initiative’ as it has “recently obtained information about holders of offshore accounts from a number of banks and has obtained similar details through the European Savings Directive”. This follows its legal victory against Barclays Bank in May 2006 which forced the bank to hand over the details of thousands of offshore customers’ bank accounts, while in February this year HMRC won its case against four other financial institutions forcing them to hand over details of customers who have UK addresses but offshore bank accou...