HMRC nudge letters on undisclosed offshore income

Since adopting the common reporting standard (CRS) in September 2017 HMRC has obtained information from numerous overseas tax authorities on assets held by UK residents in foreign jurisdictions. HMRC issued ‘nudge’ letters to taxpayers using the data it obtained through the CRS and other automatic information exchange agreements since 2017. The letters are sent to UK individuals identified by HMRC as receiving income or gains from overseas assets on which they may have a UK tax liability.

HMRC started issuing the latest batch of nudge letters in July 2020. This is a continuing process. Advisers may be familiar with this type of letter but the new version is somewhat different to earlier iterations.

What is HMRC’s strategy?

HMRC’s continued efforts to tackle offshore non-compliance are well known to readers and perhaps date back to the economic and political state of the UK after the economic...