The UK’s tax authorities, HM Revenue & Customs have won what they have called a “landmark” legal battle against Barclays Bank, according to ...

The UK’s tax authorities, HM Revenue & Customs have won what they have called a “landmark” legal battle against Barclays Bank, according to a report in the Financial Times. Under the ruling, which is expected to have widespread repercussion throughout the banking world, Barclays will be forced to hand over details of thousands of its customers’ offshore accounts. HMRC believes the disclosures could yield as much as £1.5 billion ($2.76 billion) of unpaid tax. UK tax officials can now search Barclay’s records for information on UK-domiciled individuals who have not declared income from offshore bank accounts. Tax experts said the ruling would add a powerful weapon to the Revenue’s armoury in clamping down on tax evasion in offshore savings accounts. “The HMRC will obtain a massive amount of information [as a result of this ruling] which they believe will allow them to collect a significant amount of tax,” Tom Rowbotham, director in the tax and risk resolution team at Deloitte told the FT. This latest ruling gives HMRC the right to demand that financial institutions hand over customer data held on their computer system. Under a previous ruling the tax authorities had won the power to require financial institutions to hand over customers’ credit card details to track down undeclared income from offshore savings accounts.