“HMRC criminal investigators continue to review the information, and further prosecutions are likely,” HMRC added, in a statement on its website today.
Michael Shanly, a Berkshire property developer who appeared on the Sunday Times’s most recent Rich List in April in 480th place – with a fortune estimated at around £157m – pleaded guilty at Wood Green Crown Court, the HMRC statement noted.
It said Shanly had closed the account in question, which had been opened with money inherited from his mother, “in an attempt to avoid detection”.
According to the BBC, Shanly’s solicitor said the money that was transferred in 2008 into the HSBC account in question had gone to a children’s charity in Switzerland, not to his client personally.
Shanly had previously failed to disclose this HSBC account during an earlier civil inquiry, where he was found to owe around £1.5m, HMRC said.
Shanly’s back tax, fines and costs are almost double the £430,000 in inheritance tax he sought to avoid.
“This [the Swiss account] was discovered when information about UK taxpayers with HSBC bank accounts in Geneva was handed over to HMRC”, the HMRC statement went on.
David Gauke, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said Shanly’s case “proves that the Government will track down and take action against those who try to get out of paying the tax they owe”.
“The message is clear: even if you try to hide money abroad, HMRC will find you.”
Chris Martin, Assistant Director, HMRC Criminal Investigation, added: “HMRC are continually receiving information from various sources and working together with partner agencies here and abroad. Those attempting to hide offshore accounts must be aware that HMRC are closing in on offshore assets.”
Several press accounts of the Shanley prosecution note that the information on HSBC’s UK accountholders, on which the HMRC prosecution was based, had been stolen by an employee of the bank and ended up in the hands of French authorities before being passed on to UK tax officials.
‘Not scaremongering’
Tax experts in London said that any UK taxpayers who still have undeclared sums in overseas accounts should regard the Shanly prosecution as a wake-up call, rather than a scare-mongering tactic.
Among them is John Cassidy, a tax investigation and dispute resolution partner at PKF, who noted that Shanly may represent the first court victory for HMRC’s Offshore Co-ordination Unit, but “it is unlikely to be the last”.
“The prosecution sends out a strong message to anyone with hidden assets in offshore accounts: HMRC will do all it can to catch you if your tax affairs aren’t in order, whether through deliberate deception or through ignorance of your tax obligations.”
