Big fish, little fish…

Big fish, little fish…

The UK is in a fiscal tight spot. The Chancellor has promised to raise an additional £7.5 billion over the next four years by boosting HMRC compliance efforts. The Autumn Budget is likely to see more measures intended to make this number go up: perhaps extra...
The transparency registers that weren’t

The transparency registers that weren’t

Summary: UK ministers last month hailed five of the UK’s Overseas Territories for putting in place searchable registers to reveal who really owns companies in their territory – a key tool against tax evasion, money laundering and other illicit financial activities....
New weapons, same problems?

New weapons, same problems?

New powers against ‘enablers’ – those who design and enable aggressive tax avoidance and evasion – are back on the table once again. But new figures show that existing powers are still not being used.   A report published by the Public Accounts Committee...
Broken offshore promises undermine the UK’s tax system

Broken offshore promises undermine the UK’s tax system

After years of attempts at reform, offshore havens still offer secrecy for those determined to hide money and evade tax. In a week when five of the UK’s Overseas Territories have ignored yet another deadline for functioning ‘beneficial ownership’...
Back to the drawing board

Back to the drawing board

The government wants to step up the fight against enablers of tax abuse (again). New powers and better information can help. But HMRC is barely using some of the powers and penalties it already has.  *** Laws that aren’t enforced are simply polite recommendations....