People admitting they had hidden offshore assets surges in 2022-23

Disclosure of untaxed offshore assets rose by 146% to 5 427 in 2022-23 according to Lubbock Fine.

This is the number of taxpayers who used HMRC’s worldwide disclosure facility (WDF) to admit that they have not paid the right amount of tax on their overseas income and gains. Voluntary disclosures made this way may result in lower penalties as long as the individual makes a correct confession and co-operates fully.

Graham Caddock director at Lubbock Fine said: ‘The surge in people admitting to undertaxed income and gains shows that HMRC’s more active approach supported by the amount of information they are receiving is getting better and yielding more tax to help reduce the tax gap.'

He added that it is likely that HMRC will continue to mailshot taxpayers it suspects of tax avoidance before opening a full-scale tax investigation. ‘These nudge letter campaigns...