The Liechtenstein deal: What the papers say

With the Liechtenstein/UK tax information exchange agreement hitting the BBC
news on TV last night, there was no doubt that the papers would hit the topic
hard this morning – in turn giving tax professionals some column inches.

The
Daily
Mail took a pretty straight line on the story, with KPMG’s tax
partner Paul Harrison telling the paper that the leniency of the deal, which
allows disclosure of evaded tax until 2015, was because the scheme ‘has got to
work so they [the government] need to build in some real incentives’.

The
Guardian suggested the deal could pave the way for a similar
scheme with Switzerland. And Deloitte head of tax policy Bill Dodwell, described
the Liechtenstein deal in the paper as ‘landmark’.

The
Times said that the deal would be followed today with he
decision by the courts on whether HM Revenue & Customs would be allowed to
access the accounts of UK citizens held in foreign banks with branches in the
UK.

Jay Krause, a partner at international law firm Withers LLP, told the
Telegraph
there was nowhere to run for tax evaders: ‘Individuals who bet
that they can continue to avoid detection are betting against the house. The
time to come clean is now.’

The
FT’s
Lex column said the deal was the taxman’s best hope of
improving tax collection. ‘Progress indeed: until now, the most obvious thing
they shared was the tune for their national anthems,’ Lex added.

Further reading:

Liechtenstein reaction: tax
agreements are ineffective

Historic Liechtenstein tax deal
branded ‘unfair’