tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29600742611858461.post8673656625553899048..comments2024-03-29T06:52:40.745+00:00Comments on HMRC Is Shite: Bankers RevoltKen Frosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13568488818950912374noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29600742611858461.post-2937690681783874042009-10-06T10:44:53.896+01:002009-10-06T10:44:53.896+01:00I don't have any offshore accounts. I'm no...I don't have any offshore accounts. I'm not rich enough to do it and with my simple PAYE tax affairs I don't have the opportunity to enter into the sort of evasion and avoidance schemes that rely on the offshoring of funds. For years, possibly decades, HMRC/the Inland Revenue has had powers to find out details of onshore accounts. Banks have a duty to actively report suspicions of onshore accounts being used for money laundering and criminal activity (which would include tax evasion).<br /><br />You may say that this sort of thing is an invasion of privacy (though I would say that privacy and secrecy are two different things), or that it leads to fishing trips (not from what I've seen - the data is used for risk assessment, but around here "fishing trip" is used to an enquiry being opened/prolonged purely speculatively in absence of material risks). However, the fact remains that allowing overseas secrecy lurisdictions to continue to operate creates one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us. Again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com