Own up over foreign income before October, says HMRC

It advises making a disclosure to HMRC before the cut-off date.

HMRC says most people do declare correctly and pay the tax they owe, but in some cases people may have not been aware of their responsibilities.

If in doubt, it says you should check you have paid appropriate tax, perhaps by taking professional advice.

See also gov.uk/guidance/worldwide-disclosure-facility-make-a-disclosure

This does not relate to self-assessment declarations for the UK tax year 2017-18 (for which the deadline has not yet passed) but to those who have not properly declared in earlier years.

The increased penalties will apply where extra tax becomes payable due to an undeclared ‘offshore matter’, an HMRC spokesman said.

The spokesman said this may include, for example, UK property incomes of a French resident that were transferred to them in France, or French incomes of a UK resident

He said that relevant income for the latter may include money from renting property, gains made on sales of assets (houses, jewellery, art…) as well as income from investments.

For more information see gov.uk/guidance/requirement-to-correct-tax-due-on-offshore-assets

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