Case Studies: Disclosures

Private individual with undiscovered and undisclosed sum in a bank account following a bereavement

Our client

A private individual.

The situation

Our client became aware of a bank account in her father’s name a significant number of years after he had passed away. The large sum in the account had not been included in the inheritance tax return for the father and had also grown in value over the years with interest. A disclosure was made using the ‘Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility’ (no longer available).

The outcome we achieved

HMRC accepted that tax was only payable on the interest for the previous four years, and inheritance tax was not payable in the circumstances. A liability of over £400k was reduced to just a couple of hundred pounds.

Technology company director who uncovered fraud

Our client

Company in the technology sector. Turnover c£750k.

The situation

One director discovered that their fellow director had been defrauding the company by creating false invoices. Disclosure was made to HMRC under ‘Code of Practice 9’ which was accepted, protecting the individual from prosecution.

The outcome we achieved

The matter proceeded on a civil, rather than criminal basis, with lower penalties, significantly lower costs and no threat of prosecution. The process was considerably less stressful.

Company who failed to submit corporation tax returns due to administrative issues

Our client

Company in the training and education sector. Turnover c£1m.

The situation

The company had failed to submit corporation tax returns and PAYE returns for a number of years because of administrative issues. On disclosure to HMRC, HMRC initially threatened criminal investigation. HMRC then threatened a civil investigation of fraud. inTAX argued that the matter was careless, not fraudulent. HMRC eventually accepted this basis of disclosure.

The outcome we achieved

The company’s affairs were brought up to date and penalties were based on careless behaviour rather than deliberate, resulting in a reduction of c£100k in penalties.