Time lag in place
Pinsent Masons noted there was a time lag between the deadline for electing to use the alternative reporting regime and the exchange of information taking place. The information due to be exchanged in September 2016 will cover calendar years 2014 and 2015.
“Those with non-compliant offshore accounts cannot do anything about their 2014 reporting, which will be disclosed to HMRC in September 2016. There is still time however for anyone whose tax affairs have got out of hand to inform the Revenue whilst the current rules are still in place. This will make non-doms and their advisers much better able to manage the situation.”
Non-doms who miss the deadline and who are worried that they are not compliant will still have the opportunity to disclose any ongoing non-compliance to HMRC and potentially mitigate the consequences.
Noble said that even if the information that HMRC receives through FATCA does not demonstrate that a non-dom has evaded tax, it could still be used to launch an investigations into an individual non-doms’ finances.
“Indeed most of this information will be irrelevant to HMRC but they will still have access to it, and will seek to use it to their advantage. Advisers should be recommending to any non-dom clients that they elect to the alternative reporting regime as soon as possible,” he said.
