HMRC announced at the end of last week that the deadline for registration under the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) would be extended to 4 January 2010. HMRC also indicated that it is currently receiving information from over 300 banks under third party information notices issued earlier this year.
Originally taxpayers had until 30 November to register under the scheme following which they would be required to make a full declaration and pay any outstanding tax by the end of January 2010 (or by mid March for online disclosures). HMRC gave as their reason for extending the deadline that some bank customers may not have been contacted by their banks early enough to be able to meet the original November deadline. HMRC's Dave Hartnett said: "In the interests of fairness we have decided to extend our deadline by a month to 4 January."
Some advisors have been concerned that the scheme has received insufficient publicity and that many offshore account holders may not know that this opportunity exists. HMRC's new last chance offers banks and their offshore account holders a few extra weeks to take advantage of the scheme before investigations begin. To find out more see our guide to the NDO.
