BKL tax partner David Whiscombe was among members of the UK200Group of independent chartered accountancy and lawyer firms who commented on HMRC’s investigation into hundreds of UK accountants, lawyers and professional advisers suspected of concealing assets in offshore tax havens for wealthy clients, following the largest leak of offshore data ever received by the UK authority.
HMRC said early analysis of the data, totalling 400 gigabytes, showed extensive use of complex offshore structures to conceal assets around the world, including Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Cook Islands. So far HMRC has identified more than 100 individuals benefiting from these structures, a number of whom are already under investigation for offshore tax evasion. More than 200 UK accountants, lawyers and other advisers will also be scrutinised.
“Look, we’ve got to be honest, this witch-hunt business is becoming a bit of a bore. We think we’re ALL agreed that using any structure – whether onshore or offshore – to evade tax is wrong. Period. End of. No question.
“But please, quit finger-pointing-in-a-rough-direction. And we’re not saying it because they seem to be turning the heat up on accountants and tax advisers – there are definitely rogues out there who dabble, or just generally hang out on the dark side of the line.“What’s interesting (or worrying – depending how you look at it) is that in the UK, any person or business can call themselves an “accountant” or “tax adviser” regardless of knowledge or qualifications (or lack of). That’s not to mention the “qualifieds” who turn to the dark side anyway….them’s the ones wot give the professional profession that we are a bad name, and we wish HMRC all the luck in the world to root them out. But it really isn’t fair to tarnish the good reputation of an entire profession on the back of a few ne’er-do-well’s.”