Tax experts say the delay in resolving NDO (New Disclosure Opportunity) cases is in marked contrast to the efficiency with which disclosures under another amnesty scheme – the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility – are being dealt with.
In response, HMRC insists there has been "no delay in the processing of NDO disclosures” and that its case workers are “continuing to go through these often complex cases, and ensure that declarations and correct and accurate, which can take time.”
It noted that some 5,500 people had come forward with payments totalling more than £80m.
“Everyone who submitted should have received an acknowledgment letter from HMRC when they disclosed,” the Revenue said in a statement.
“As long as those that disclosed paid what was due, there is no need to be concerned, they will hear from us shortly once their case has been processed.”
The LDF, which offers more generous terms than the NDO and involves opening an account with a Liechtenstein bank if one does not already have one, runs through 31 March 2015.
12 March submissions deadline
Taxpayers had until 4 January to tell the Revenue that they were planning to disclose under the NDO, and were required to have made their disclosure by 31 January on paper, and 12 March if they were doing it online.
Almost five months since that online deadline passed, however, only one accountancy firm contacted by International Adviser – Grant Thornton – said it had received any confirmations that its NDO cases had been settled.
What is more, according to national tax investigations senior manager Frank Strachan, Grant Thornton thus far has received only about 11 – the first having arrived just yesterday, and "another 10 or so" this morning – out of as many as 70 disclosures that the firm has submitted in the 11 months since the notification period of intention to disclose began on 1 Sept 2009. (A number of Grant Thornton disclosure cases that started out as NDOs were subsequently switched to LDFs.)
“The [confirmation] process is obviously starting, and thankfully, clients will start to get some certainty, and be able to begin to move on with their lives,” Strachan said.
However, he added, the delay has been hard on some clients, who have been “waiting for a conclusion to the whole process” after taking what for many was not an easy step – accepting that they would have to voluntarily hand over to HMRC “a fairly large portion of their savings” and “putting their heads above the parapet…only to hear absolutely nothing”.
"They feel that they have come forward and done the right thing by making a full and complete disclosure, and therefore deserve a greater level of certainty than those who have not come forward,” he added.
At McGrigors, a London-based law firm specialising in tax matters, director Phil Berwick said all of the firm’s possible NDO cases had been switched to LDFs, and that some of these had already been settled – including one which took only 10 weeks – but that he had heard other firms were finding NDO confirmations slow to come in.
Echoing the comments of others who have been working closely with HMRC in recent months on the Lichtenstein disclosures, he said HMRC had been providing particularly “excellent” service in handling the LDFs compared with previous tax amnesty programmes, with a “single point of contact” having been arranged to handle telephone and emailed queries efficiently.
“The only negative point about the LDF is that it has not been [more] widely publicised by HMRC,” he added.
At PKF (UK), another tax specialist, partner John Cassidy said “zero” NDO confirmations had yet been received thus far, only the routine acknowledgements that submissions had been received.
Andrew Watt, managing director of tax disputes and investigations at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, which also has had no NDO acceptances so far, agreed that the NDO process seemed to be “a bit drawn out”, but noted that this was possibly not surprising given the complexity of assimilating, collating the data from the 305 banks and financial institutions whose offshore account details HMRC last August won the right to have handed over.
This data comprised the “stick” element of the NDO’s carrot-and-stick approach to encouraging reluctant taxpayers with undisclosed assets to come in from the cold.
“[Although] we have had no acceptances, HMRC have given [us] the date by which they will either accept or raise queries” about each case, he added.
“Delay is built into the [NDO] process, and we were made aware at the start of the NDO that there would be no date given for finality unlike with the [Offshore Disclosure Facility, a 2007 amnesty programme].”
