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HSBC aided UK tax dodgers

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Mary:

--- Quote ---Britain's biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax, the BBC has learned.

Panorama has seen thousands of accounts from HSBC's private bank in Switzerland leaked by a whistleblower in 2007.

They show bankers helped clients evade tax and offered deals to help tax dodgers stay ahead of the law.

The documents, stolen in 2007 by a computer expert working for HSBC in Geneva, contain details of more than 100,000 clients from around the world.
--- End quote ---
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31248913
Offshore accounts are not illegal, but many people use them to hide cash from the tax authorities. And while tax avoidance is perfectly legal, deliberately hiding money to evade tax is not.

jeanskala:
Sorry, am I being thick, but why is tax avoidance legal and hiding money not - it's the same thing isn't it..?
I believe all the loop holes need to be closed and therefore everyone pays what they should pay! But then, who am I...?

TonyD:
Tax Evasion - hiding profits, misreporting holdings, using false accounts - illegal
Tax Avoidance - using losses to offset liability, moving liability to other countries, using charity and eco incentives to reduce liability - legal

The problem (in the UK) is two particular accountancy/auditing companies (PWC and KPMG) who both advise government on policy.
The same companies then advise private clients on the loopholes and avoidance mechanisms those same policies present.

Bluenose:

--- Quote from: TonyD on Monday, 09 February, 2015 @ 12:43:09 ---Tax Evasion - hiding profits, misreporting holdings, using false accounts - illegal
Tax Avoidance - using losses to offset liability, moving liability to other countries, using charity and eco incentives to reduce liability - legal

The problem (in the UK) is two particular accountancy/auditing companies (PWC and KPMG) who both advise government on policy.
The same companies then advise private clients on the loopholes and avoidance mechanisms those same policies present.

--- End quote ---
Run with the hare and hunt with the hounds !

TonyKath:
So all the stuff we say about Greece applies here too!   :rant:   

HMRC keen to say they didn't want to prosecute anyone as they just wanted to get the money plus some penalties and save on legal costs.  This is obviously a very innovative approach to the law that should be immediately extended not just to benefit fraudsters (obviously) but also muggers and burglars, oh and expenses fiddling MPs.  That way our prisons could be emptied overnight saving yet more money, a small percentage of which could be given to victims to persuade them shut up. 

I noticed this has been around for 3-4 years so is it a part of what got called the "Lagarde List.  That was when Christine Lagarde as then French Finance Minister was drawing the attention of the Samaras coalition to Greece about its citizens who had hidden their dosh.  Greece then said they'd lost the USB stick with the list on - I know it's so easy isn't it, I do it all the time. 

Tony

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