"The UK government has signed an arrangement with the Cayman Islands that will enable tax information to be exchanged to international standards of transparency.
It was signed yesterday (15 June) by financial secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms and the Caribbean territory’s leader of government business W McKeeva Bush.
Mr Timms said the arrangement included “unprecedented provisions for tax information exchange”.
He added: “Information exchange is a vital tool in ensuring that governments receive the revenues they need to resource the essential public services on which we all depend.”
The new arrangement means information relating to direct taxes and VAT can be exchanged in a way that meets standards set down by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Arrangements of this kind, known as Double Taxation Arrangements (DTAs), aim to stop people being taxed twice if they live in one territory but earn income in another.
Permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, added: “Information exchange enables us to confront effectively tax avoidance and money laundering whilst ensuring that we all make the right contribution to our public services.”
The text of the arrangements can be accessed on the internet (web, PDF). The arrangement will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed the necessary legislative procedures.
The UK currently has 113 DTAs in force and has also signed tax information exchange agreements with Guernsey, Jersey, Bermuda, the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands"
and
"HMRC has shut down a £1 billion tax avoidance scheme used by clients of one of the UK’s most prestigious banks.
Nearly 300 customers of Coutts, which caters for the super-wealthy, will have to repay up to £400 million in tax following an independent ruling.
...This is an excellent result in a complex and difficult case...
Marie-Claire Uhart
Details of the Castle Trust scheme have been reported in the Sunday Times and Guardian newspapers. It follows the publication of a decision by the Special Commissioners who are an independent tribunal on tax matters (and who were subsumed into the new First-tier Tribunal from April 1 2009).
Castle Trust had made a deliberate loss of more than £1 billion since it was set up back in 1997.
Losses incurred from transactions that spanned Germany, Pakistan and Guernsey meant investors were able to make deductions from their tax bills totalling almost £400 million.
Specialist Investigations director Marie-Claire Uhart said: “This is an excellent result in a complex and difficult case, and highlights the hard work and dedication of Specialist Investigations and the Anti-Avoidance Group teams working in partnership.”
Sarah Woodall, head of Anti-Avoidance Investigation, added: "Increasingly HMRC is working across directorates in cross tax teams, including staff recruited from the commercial world, to boost its effectiveness in challenging aggressive tax planning. This case illustrates how successful this is proving."
Coutts had no role in setting up Castle Trust."
Just two of many example from internal news. However it must be a lovely world you lot live in where you are happy to pay hand over fist on tax on your earnings and that your happy for those who earn the most to pay disproportionately less..
I thought these were people hoarding money away into limitless tax free accounts as opposed to those that have shipped it out and not (for the majority) paid 50% UK income tax. My bad.