Finance secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms has hit out at offshore tax evasion, labelling it as 'morally unacceptable'. His announcement comes in the wake of the taxman announcing that only 10,000 people had come forward under the 4 January 2010 new disclosure deadline to disclose previously undeclared offshore income and gains. They will now have to pay any unpaid tax, interest and a 10% penalty on them.

HM Revenue & Customs is now in the process of obtaining the details of account holders with offshore accounts from over 300 banks. Timms said: 'Hiding money in offshore accounts to evade tax is economically and morally unacceptable. It robs public services of funding and places an unfair burden on the honest majority of taxpayers. 'Some people will still be tempted, and that is why the government will bring forward measures during 2010 to build on the significant progress made both in the UK and globally during 2009 in closing down offshore tax evasion for good.'