UK Issues Consultation Outcome on Notifying Offshore Structure Requirement

The HM Revenue & Customs(HMRC) published the consultation outcome on a proposed new legal requirement and responded to issues concerned. In the proposal, if intermediaries create or promote certain complex offshore financial arrangements, they need to notify HMRC of these structures and their clients using them.

A Summary of Responses to the Consultation

The notification requirement acts as a supplementary to the British No Safe Havens strategy of 2014. Many of the respondents to the consultation thought that a requirement to notify tax authorities of certain structures would work more effectively if implemented multi-nationally instead of being solely a UK measure. Despite recognizing leaving existing structures out of the measure’s scope might reduce its effectiveness, the majority of respondents emphasized that requiring the advisory industry to retrospectively review all existing structures would impose a significant burden.

The Official Response to Issues Raised in the Consultation

The OECD and EU have undertaken work on measures similar to the one proposed in the consultation. The Government therefore intends to work with international partners on the development of appropriate multi-national rules, taking into account the responses received for this consultation. The Government will also continue to work with external stakeholders on these new multilateral proposals and is grateful for their input into the consultation thus far.

Source: UK Government