LONDON, UK/LEIPZIG, Germany: Doctors and other medical professionals in the UK are currently being encouraged by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to declare understated income. Those who contact HMRC by 31 March 2010 to make a voluntary disclosure will be able to put their tax affairs in order and only be charged a 10 per cent penalty, the agency has announced in a press release.

The Revenue’s campaign, called the Tax Health Plan, follows efforts to uncover taxable income that has been hidden by UK taxpayers in offshore bank accounts. Its most recent offshore disclosure campaign, which closed earlier this month, flushed out a further 10,000 people who said they wanted to pay tax on income hidden abroad. In the case of medical professionals, the HMRC is looking for taxable income regardless of where it has been hidden.

“Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to come forward, make a full disclosure and benefit from the certainty of a reduced 10 per cent penalty that HMRC is making available to those who qualify for this opportunity,” said Mike Wells, HMRC’s Director of Risk and Intelligence. “This is the first step in enabling those with undisclosed income or gains to avoid a full tax investigation together with much higher penalties.”

Anyone who does not come forward but found to have been avoiding tax, could be fined up to 100 per cent of their unpaid tax, with a minimum penalty of at least 30 per cent.