RegulationApr 4 2016

Tax advisers braced for Panama Papers backlash

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Tax advisers braced for Panama Papers backlash

Advisers are bracing themselves for a backlash from Revenue & Customs after a year-long international investigation on the use of tax havens unveiled damning evidence of tax abuse.

Jennie Granger, director general of enforcement and compliance at HMRC, has already asked the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which carried out the comprehensive investigation, to share its details.

She said: “HMRC is committed to exposing and acting on financial wrongdoing and we relentlessly pursue tax evaders to ensure they pay every penny of taxes and fines they owe.

“HMRC has already received a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation.

“We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately.”

Her comments came after the ICIJ, together with media partners around the world, published a string of stories on the back of leaked documents called the ‘Panama Papers’.

These cover nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015, and were allegedly leaked from Panama-based global law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The 11.5m papers indicate that banks, law firms, offshore players and politicians have often failed to follow legal requirements, while major banks are big drivers behind the creation of hard-to-trace companies in the British Virgin Islands, Panama and other offshore havens.

As part of a statement, Mossack Fonseca said: “Our company does not offer solutions whose purpose is to offer unlawful acts such as tax evasion.”