[Mac]

Hi Livinlos

My problem was that I was going to be working abroad and I had the idea of paying my foreign earnings into an offshore account and simply not repatriating it or declaring it. This is illegal.

I am sure that your scheme has been tested by the Tax advisors and is strictly legal. But When I looked at doing something similar the costs were quite high. Also as a UK resident, normally resident, the strict terms are that any money generated in the UK or overseas must be liable for UK Tax. This is not the same if the money is being generated overseas by a non resident.

If you are a UK resident and set up a tax avoidance scheme, the fine line between evasion and avoidance can change with the vaguaries of the Chancellor. It is a criminal offence to defraud the Inland revenue. The definition of criminality is in their hands and not ours.

I was appalled for example that they are now saying that the old husband and wife company, where the husband and wife were previously taxed separately on the basis of a 50/50 dividend pay out is now illegal... All the income must now be acrued to either the husband or the wife. Bastards...

As regards blackmail. When I was getting divorced my ex-wife's lawyers were all over my books. If they had found anything suspicious at all they would have shopped me or used it as a negotiating tool.

In the Uk the Customs and Excise have powers of seizure that make any totalitarian dictatorship look positively benevolent. They can seize your goods, freeze your bank accounts and stop your credit cards with no warrant or legal papers at all. They can also enter your house without a warrant.

In the UK you can now be arrested with no charge and popped in the clink just becuase they think you might be up to something. They do not have to charge you or prove it. They can just do it. Thank you 9/11.

Stay in LOS

Best to you

Mac