How to make disclosure using Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

In this article, our tax experts explain how you can make disclosure using the Worldwide Disclosure Facility. So, if you are mulling over the same, just stay with us.

What is the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

WDF or Worldwide disclosure facility refers to the process of voluntarily making a disclosure to HM Revenue & Customs in case you have UK taxes due in relation to offshore matters. Back then in 2016, over 100 countries inked an agreement under Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Common Reporting Standard to exchange information on a multilateral basis; WDF refers to the same.

The Common Reporting Standard or CRS is simply aimed at increasing international tax transparency.

Thanks to the WDF agreement, HMRC — the revenue body — gets the authority to garner details of those taxpayers or individuals who have offshore money, investment gains, income, or assets in any of the 100 countries (that are signatory to the agreement). Therefore, it becomes of vital importance to disclose offshore assets before HMRC launches a probe into the same.

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    Who can use the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

    If you need to make a disclosure regarding UK tax liability in relation to partly or wholly to an offshore issue, then you can use WDF. The offshore issue concerns omitted or unpaid tax relating to:

    • Assets held or situated in a territory that is located outside the United Kingdom,
    • Any income that arises from a source located in a territory outside the United Kingdom,
    • Any activity that is carried outside partly or wholly in a territory located outside the United Kingdom,
    • Anything having effect as if it were income, assets or activities of a kind described above,
    • Any fund that is connected to omitted or unpaid UK tax that is owed in the territory outside the UK or if you have transferred that funds to territory outside the UK.

    It is pertinent here to mention that if HM Revenue & Customs sense that your assets, properties or funds are partly or fully made up of any criminal activity, they will straightforwardly dismiss your application.

    What happens when you make a disclosure through the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

    When you make a disclosure under Worldwide Disclosure Facility, HMRC refers it to an investigation officer who decides whether HM Revenue & Collections can accept it or not.

    How can you register for the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

    If you want to register for the Worldwide Disclosure Facility, all you need to do is to use DDS (Digital Disclosure Service) to notify the HMRC about the disclosure. The information required for the registration includes the following:

    • Your name
    • Your National Insurance Number
    • Your address
    • Your DoB (date of birth)
    • Name, contact details, reference of any agent or agency acting on your behalf
    • Your UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference)

    As soon as you get yourself registered to notify HMRC about the intention of making a disclosure, HMRC gives you a 3-month or 90-day period to:

    • Amass all the information necessary to fill in the disclosure forms.
    • Make an exact estimate about the final liabilities including interest, penalties, and tax due.
    • Fill in disclosure through the UTP.
    • Any extra information that HMRC asks for.

    What are the terms of the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?

    The terms of the Worldwide Disclosure Facility are as follow:

    • First, you must meet the eligibility criteria.
    • Second, you have to make a complete disclosure of all undisclosed UK tax liabilities.
    • Third, you must make an exact estimate of the penalties and interest based on contemporary legislation.

    WDF: Penalties on Incomplete Information.

    HMRC will take the following actions if you fail to make accurate or complete disclosure or refuse to provide extra information:

    • Impose a higher than usual penalty
    • Initiate a criminal or civil information
    • Release your information on gov.uk
    • Or, you may still be liable to criminal prosecution

    Seek Professional Advice If Nudge Letter Received.

    If you have received a Nudge Letter from HM Revenue & Customs, it means that the revenue body has all the information about your undisclosed offshore assets. It is pertinent here to mention that HMRC has now the authority to drill into your records and books dating back to as much as 20 years. If this is the case, you need help from top-notch Chartered Tax Advisers and there’s no better in the business than IBISS & CO.

    Here at IBISS & CO, our highly-regarded Chartered Tax Advisers have helped hundreds of clients in making successful WDF disclosure. You can gauge the quality of our services from the fact that our success rate is 100% as none of our disclosure has been challenged by the HMRC. We don’t ask you to simply believe in our claims, go find it yourself through rave reviews and 5-star ratings given to IBISS & CO by happy clients on third-party platforms such as Google Reviews and TrustPilot.

    To get a 15-Minute Free Consultation from top-notch Chartered Tax Advisors on WDF disclosure, click here.

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