Offshore anti-avoidance regimes

Historically, offshore arrangements have been widely used by UK resident and domiciled individuals as well as UK resident non-domiciliaries to avoid UK taxation. The government's stance on offshore tax planning has hardened significantly over the years, and to limit the scope for tax planning a series of anti-avoidance measures have been introduced. Initially, such measures were mainly aimed at UK domiciled individuals but since 2008, non-domicilaries have increasingly been targeted by measures sought to restrict the benefits achieved through the remittance basis of taxation.

The most significant anti-avoidance legislation affecting offshore structures of private wealth are set out in the income tax legislation concerning transfers of assets abroad and the income tax and capital gains tax legislation concerning settlements. This subtopic considers these and other anti-avoidance provisions/principles that you need to bear in mind when advising on offshore structures, investments and transactions. Offshore tax evasion is dealt with in the Offshore tax evasion (and private client) sub-topic.

The UK has also enacted anti-avoidance regimes which are capable of encompassing more than one tax. These include:

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   Disclosure of tax avoidance schemes (Private Client)

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