HSBC tax leaks: Hundreds of customers with Jersey-based HSBC accounts told to pay up to £20 million in tax
The media and political storm swirling around HSBC over allegations it helped some customers avoid tax is showing no sign of letting up, as it has emerged that around 170 of its customers with Jersey-based accounts have been told to pay up to £20 million by the tax man.
The demand comes after a data leak from the beleaguered bank’s operations on the channel island and comes amid a storm of controversy over the widespread use of its Swiss arm from alleged tax avoidance and potentially evasion.
HM Revenue and Customs boss Lin Homer is preparing to face MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee today where where she is expected to be questioned on how her organisation has handled information handed over by the French authorities back in 2010.
The existence of the Jersey leak - from a whistleblower - came to light back in 2012 and immediately sparked an HMRC investigation.
HSBC at the time had three separate units on the island. They were retail bank dealing with the day-to-day banking needs of Jersey's citizens, HSBC International, which looking after ex-pat Britons and HSBC Private Bank Jersey.
A former member of staff at the time said that there were "skeletons in the closet" dating from before the financial crisis.
The source also said that concerns about operations, however, could only be "escalated" up to an employee's immediate manager, meaning they often got stuck in the system.
HMRC today said that the Jersey data leak was "incomplete", which would prevent it from securing enough evidence to obtain criminal convictions against suspected tax dodgers, but that it did expect to recover significant funds nonetheless
It said: "Our risk assessment is that this data may help us recover £10-20m tax. The data was incomplete and old. This meant that there was insufficient information to develop potential criminal investigations.
"We believe the data to be around 10 years old. It also included those who had already disclosed their offshore accounts through earlier campaigns.
"We have given customers the opportunity to voluntarily disclose through the Crown Dependency Disclosure Facility (commenced April 2013).
"Every Jersey financial institution was obliged to write directly to each of their customers to tell them about this disclosure facility. We are challenging about 170 who we believe pose the highest risk."
The news of the Jersey funds could heightened pressure on HSBC over its apparent willingness to help wealthy clients avoid tax.
The bank has said it has since put compliance above profitability and reformed its processes.
