Asked by the Customer on 30-08-2019 17:11:35
Question posted in the General Law category relating to Gauteng

I am a South African national.  Received a letter from HMRC stating that I owe tax from 1998 from information received by them from an IOM institution. The claim is that I did not declare or paid proper tax or declared interest at the time.  A penalty has been issued and interest up to 2012 when I left.  I am disputing the oustanding tax.

Can HMRC UK take funds out of my account in South Africa in the event things do not go in my favour?

Further information relating to Question:

Can they take money from my account through the MARD scheme.

Posted by Att. Patrick on 30-08-2019 17:58:27

Hi there and thank you for your question,

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread.

South Africa is a signatory to the Mutual Assistance in the Recovery of Debt "MARD" agreement, so if it is found that you are in fact liable to HMRC for back taxes, South Africa will assist them in recovering money from you, here. 

They can do so through issuing Advanced Payment Notices to expatriates who have used disputed tax avoidance / tax minimisation schemes.

The normal manner of dealing with these tax disputes is "pay now, dispute later", so you might very well find that HMRC attempts to recover the money from you now, and then deals with your dispute in due course. 

So the answer to your first question is "yes", and to your second question is also "yes".

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.

Att. Patrick

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.

What is the minimum will they let me have in my accounts? Can they seize funds transferred to a company trust or family member. What about my assets like home? Sorry but I cannot accept a tax authority from abroad going back 20 years because the country is broke and than our government assist with MARD. I do not consider this as justice?

Posted by Att. Patrick on 30-08-2019 23:25:58

I know of no minimum amount that they must leave in your account. I assume that you mean in your South African account. 

No, they can only recover funds which are held in your account, or in your name. Not in a company / family member's account - specifically, because they are not the tax payer!

They can, through a court order, attach property. 

I hear what you are saying, but unfortunately this is the situation. Perhaps your fight about whether or not you are actually liable for the tax will have an outcome before they try to attach anything. 

Just remember, that our government is a little slower than most - so you might have ages to try deal with the dispute!