New rules means Inland Revenue and Customs are to keep details concerning investors off shore accounts from next month. Under the EU Savings Directive, account holders with savings in the traditional tax havens of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man could be scrutinised from July.
The directive means that institutions in the EU member states must hand over tax information about savings to the UK government.
Policyholders of most offshore life assurance bonds will continue to have no immediate tax liability whilst they leave the investment offshore.
Our view
Information sharing will stop people who are illegally trying to hide their money. If you have legitimate reasons then the tax advantages for being offshore of investing in a foreign country are still good.