Tax Amnesties: How to Come Clean with HMRC
A plain-English guide to putting undisclosed tax right, on your terms — a clear, confidential route to disclose tax you should have declared but haven't.
Get in touchMaybe it's rental income that slipped through the net, some overseas savings you never mentioned, or a few years where your paperwork simply got away from you. Whatever the reason, HMRC has formal routes for putting it right voluntarily — usually with far lower penalties than if they catch up with you first.
This isn't about judgement. It's about giving you the facts, plainly, so you can make an informed decision and take control of the situation before it takes control of you.
A note on the word “amnesty”
HMRC doesn't officially use this term — it calls these routes “disclosure facilities” or “campaigns”. But the effect is the same: come forward voluntarily and you're treated far more leniently than if HMRC finds the problem itself. The tax and interest are always due; what a disclosure facility changes is the penalty, and whether the conversation happens on your terms or theirs.
The current routes to disclosure
Which facility applies depends on what kind of income or gain wasn't declared. Here are the main ones currently open.
Let Property Campaign
For landlords who haven't declared income from letting out property, in the UK or abroad. This covers anything from a single spare room to a full portfolio, and includes traditional residential lets as well as less obvious income such as grazing rights or renting out a driveway.
Worldwide Disclosure Facility
For anything connected to money held or earned outside the UK: foreign bank interest, overseas investment income, offshore gains, and similar. HMRC now receives data on offshore accounts automatically from tax authorities around the world, so this is an area where voluntary disclosure carries particular weight.
Digital Disclosure Service
If your situation doesn't fit a specific campaign — general undeclared income, gains, or errors that don't relate to property or offshore matters — the Digital Disclosure Service is the general-purpose route for bringing your tax affairs up to date voluntarily.
Contractual Disclosure Facility
This is a different and more serious route, used where HMRC suspects deliberate tax fraud rather than an oversight. It involves a formal admission and a structured investigation process. If this might apply to your situation, it's important to take advice before contacting HMRC directly, as how the first conversation is handled matters.
Why coming forward voluntarily matters
Lower penalties
An unprompted disclosure — one HMRC didn't have to chase you for — attracts significantly lower penalties than one made after HMRC has already opened an enquiry.
You control the pace
A voluntary disclosure lets you gather accurate figures and present a complete picture, rather than reacting to HMRC's timetable.
HMRC's data reach is wide
Between the Land Registry, international data-sharing agreements, and information from banks and property platforms, HMRC's ability to spot undeclared income has grown substantially — waiting rarely means going unnoticed.
Tax and interest are due either way
What changes with a voluntary disclosure is the penalty and the tone of the process — not whether the underlying tax is owed.
What the process involves
Every case is different, but the shape is usually the same:
A confidential review of your position, so we know exactly what's been missed and over how many years.
Working out the tax, interest and likely penalty position, so there are no surprises.
Submitting the disclosure through the correct facility, with figures HMRC can rely on.
Agreeing payment with HMRC — in full, or through a time-to-pay arrangement where that's appropriate.
How we help
We've supported clients through exactly this kind of disclosure — including a property investor whose situation had gone undisclosed for over a decade, resolved through a full voluntary disclosure to HMRC. You can read that case study here. Every case we handle is treated in the strictest confidence.
If you think you might have something to disclose, the best first step is a quiet conversation — not a decision. Get in touch and we'll talk through where you stand, with no judgement and no obligation.
Something to put right?
Start with a quiet, confidential conversation. No judgement, no obligation — just a clear view of where you stand.
Get in touch