25/09/2012

Government 'On Track' With Tax Dodgers Crack Down

The governments crack down on tax dodgers, which hopes to raise £4bn through different schemes, is “on track”, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

In 2010 Mr Alexander announced £900m in extra resources for Revenue & Customs to identify and pursue tax dodgers, both in the UK and those with offshore interests.

In an update on the issue, Mr Alexander has said the UK was making "good progress" which "we should all be proud of".

The number of staff dealing with tax-evasion in Liechtenstein will be doubled as part of a crackdown on those "hiding" assets in offshore havens and Mr Alexander promised to get more from the "small minority of wealthy people who don't play by the rules".

The last Labour government signed a deal with Liechtenstein in 2009 to recover lost tax from British nationals holding bank accounts in the Alpine tax haven.

Up to 5,000 British investors are thought to have secret accounts.

Since 2009, they have been offered the chance to volunteer details of their deposits in return for penalties, capped at 10% of tax evaded over the past 10 years.

Mr Alexander said the last government expected the agreement to raise £1bn but the coalition now believed it would yield £3bn and it was devoting extra manpower to oversee the process.

The Lib Dems have pledged to raise £9bn by tackling tax avoidance by 2015.

(H)


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