British offshore bank account holders threatened with jail

Dateline: Wroclaw, Poland

For years, Americans have had all the fun. The US government has been the most aggressive, bar none, in going after tax evaders who put money in offshore bank accounts. And in the process, they’ve created laws like FATCA to make it harder to citizens to bank offshore legally. They’re even responsible for three banks in Switzerland shutting their doors entirely.

Now, British depositors get to enjoy the same barium enema-level excitement when it comes to banking offshore. The UK government, taking a play from The Land of the Free’s “guilty until proven innocent” playbook, is now putting the onus of proving legality off offshore accounts onto British savers.

Basically, if you live in the UK and keep money offshore, you will now be treated as a common criminal. This should come as no surprise. The UK government has a national debt almost as substantial as the United States, to the tune of nearly US$2 billion. Debt as a share of GDP is 88%, not far behind the 100%+ ratios that exist in The Land of the Free.

More importantly, Britain is adding nearly $4 billion in debt to the credit card pile every.

Single. Day.

The claim is that today’s “austerity” measures should eliminate the budget deficit within five years. Just like alcoholics claim they’ll stop drinking after the next shot.

As a result, the UK government now has to ramp up the crack down on British offshore account holders. Just this month, UK tax authorities have obtained details of every British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided them with a list of names, addresses and account balances.

How convenient.

Her Majesty’s tax collectors told the press that “Clamping down on those who try to cheat the system through evading taxes and over claiming benefits is a top priority for us and we value the information we receive from the public and business community.”

In orders words, the ends justify the means. It’s OK for the UK government to beg, borrow, and steal (not to mention extort) its way to banking data from other jurisdictions. In the wake of this latest issue, the Treasury has unveiled plans to make it a criminal offence for Britons to hold undeclared income overseas.