In the UK and elsewhere, professional advisors often have an obligation to report tax irregularities and sometimes even a suspicion of something which is not quite right.
- Money laundering regulations require all UK advisors to report immediately to the authorities any suspicion of a tax offence.
- Tax advice is not covered by legal privilege unless provided through a properly instructed lawyer.
- HMRC have the power to serve legal notice and/or to search advisors' premises and computers in order to obtain details of tax information provided and advice given.
- Web servers in the UK and elsewhere store confidential information which may be accessible by HMRC and other tax authorities.
- Offshore financial institutions are reluctant to provide information to onshore advisors because of the powers of HMRC and other tax authorities to establish “John Doe” information notices on their onshore branches.
- UK advisors are not permitted to provide confidential assessments of your liablility to unpaid tax, penalties or prosecution - even if they only suspect a tax offence they must report it without telling you.
This means that you can't even ask a professional to check that your tax affairs are in order without risking a report being made if something is wrong.
In Switzerland the situation is very different because professional advisors are not allowed to compromise their clients by passing on details to third parties.
- Swiss advisors are prohibited by law from divulging client information to third parties.
- HMRC and other foreign tax authorities have no powers in Switzerland.
- Web servers of Swiss service providers in Switzerland are not accessible to HMRC or other tax authorities
- Offshore financial institutions may provide information to Swiss advisors without the risk of being required to provide information to the tax authorities.
- Swiss advisors can provide confidential advice on your tax affairs, no matter what the situation.
If you would like advice on your tax affairs, without the risk of a report being made to the tax authorities, contact us today.
For your free, no obligation opinion about a past, existing or potential situation please use our online enquiry form. We will respond within one business day.
