In August I posted a blog about the new agreement between the UK and Switzerland designed to prevent UK taxpayers illegally evading UK tax by hiding money in Swiss bank accounts. (Click here to see earlier blog.) I reported that if you had a Swiss bank account on 31 December 2010 (and still have it on 31 May 2013) you will suffer a one-off tax charge in the range 19% to 34% of all your Swiss funds. At that time the Revenue had not explained how the charge would be calculated. They have now done so. Frankly, the calculation is difficult to understand – even for a professional. The Revenue give two examples, in which the actual rates would be 23.3% or 26.7%. Pretty scary!

In my earlier blog, I also suggested that it might be better to move the funds to Liechtenstein so as to qualify for the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, with the possibility of a lower tax rate. Since then the Revenue have tightened the rules, so that it is now harder to qualify for the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility. But it is still possible.