Offshore bank account holders seen as 'guilty until proven innocent'

HM Revenue and Customs is now targeting some 5,000 offshore bank account holders who did not supply a declaration under last year's Offshore Disclosure Facility, which ran out in November 2007. According to accountancy firm PKF, this move turns one of the central tenets of the English legal system on its head by presuming that taxpayers are guilty and demanding proof of innocence. John Cassidy, tax investigations partner at PKF, said: "HMRC is demanding confirmation and an explanation as to why tax is not due on funds about which it knows little. "In many cases, HMRC only knows that s...