The second Finance Bill of the year includes a requirement for people to correct historic offshore tax evasion and non-compliance. Based on draft legislation, those who fail to correct any non-compliance by 30 September 2018 will be liable to new penalties.

The penalties are going to be much harsher than those currently applicable and can be as high as 200% of the under-declared tax plus 10% of the value of the relevant asset.

Unlike other penalties, the new penalties will not take into account the cause of the non-compliance, so they will apply equally to those who failed to pay the correct amount of tax because of a careless error and those who deliberately evaded tax.