Last chance to get your taxes in order before tax collectors get tough on Islanders and businesses

Friday 29 April 2016

Next year’s tax amnesty will be the last chance for Islanders and businesses to get their taxes straight before changes to strengthen and tighten up Jersey’s tax law, the Treasury Minister has warned.

In 1998 a similar exercise saw 360 taxpayers come forward to pay £1.4 million to cover omissions from previous year’s tax declarations – Senator Alan Maclean says that a planned repeat of the “tax amnesty” next year was aimed not to raise money, but to give Islanders and businesses a last chance before the taxes office gets more powers to go after people who try to get out of paying their fair share.

He revealed that last time around, half of the £1.4 million raised was from undeclared interest on bank savings.

Senator Maclean said: “We are doing this to give individuals and companies the opportunity of bringing their affairs to order. In many cases, there are innocent omissions that have occurred, in some cases, they are less innocent.

“In either event, it’s an opportunity to bring affairs to order before we seek to strengthen the tax code to ensure that in the future those that are due to pay the fair amount do so, and the right sanctions and penalties are in place.

“We want a more modern suite of tools for the benefit of the taxes office to ensure that in the future, we generate the money that we should.”