CH114400 - Offshore matters: failure to notify penalties: categories of overseas territories

The Treasury decides which overseas territories fall into categories 1 and 3. They are specified by a Treasury Order. These orders are made by Statutory Instrument.

See below the lists of category 1 and category 3 overseas territories. Any territories not with categories 1 and 3 are in category 2. The correct list to use depends on the date when the failure to notify occurred.

Table displaying Territories for failure to notify that occurred on or before 23 July 2013

Note: The table below shows which territories are classified in ‘category 1’ and ‘category 3’ for the purposes of penalties for offshore non-compliance. Territories not listed here (other than the UK) are in ‘category 2’. Penalties for domestic (UK) matters fall into category 1.

Category 1 Category 3 
AnguillaPalau
Aruba Panama
Australia Paraguay
Belgium Peru 
Bulgaria Saint Kitts and Nevis 
CanadaSaint Lucia 
Cayman IslandsSaint Vincent and the Grenadines 
Cyprus San Marino 
Czech Republic Seychelles 
Denmark (not including Faroe Islands and Greenland) 
Saint Maarten 
Estonia Suriname
FinlandSyria 
FranceTokelau
GermanyTonga 
Greece Trinidad and Tobago 
GuernseyUnited Arab Emirates 
HungaryUruguay 
Ireland-
Isle of Man -
Italy -
Japan-
Korea, South -
Lativa -
Lithuania-
Malta -
Montserrat-
Netherlands (not including Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) 
-
New Zealand (not including Tokelau) 
-
Norway -
Poland-
Portugal-
Romania-
Slovakia-
Slovenia -
Spain-
Sweeden -
United States of America (not including overseas territories and possessions) 
-


Table displaying Territories for failure to notify that occurred from 24 July 2013 

The table below shows which territories are classified in ‘category 1’ and ‘category 3’ for the purposes of penalties for offshore non-compliance. Territories not listed here (other than the UK) are in ‘category 2’. Penalties for domestic (UK) matters fall into category 1.  

Note: Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories of the UK are, unless listed, in categor

Category 1Category 3 
Anguilla Albania 
ArubaAlgeria 
AustraliaAndorra 
BelgiumBonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 
Bulgaria Brazil 
Canada Cameroon 
Cayman Islands Cape Verde
Cyprus Colombia 
Czech Republic Congo, Republic of the
Denmark (not including Faroe Islands and Greenland) 
Cook Islands 
Estonia Costa Rica 
Finland Curaçao 
France (includes overseas Departments of France; the overseas collectivities of France are in category 2) 
Cuba
Germany Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 
Greece Dominican Republic
Guernsey (includes Alderney and Sark) 
Ecuador
IrelandEl Salvador 
Isle of Man Gabon
Italy Guatemala
Japan Honduras
Korea, South Iran 
Latvia Iraq
LithuaniaJamaica 
Malta Kyrgyzstan 
MontserratLebanon
Netherlands (not including Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) 
Macau (China and Hong Kong are in category 2) 

New Zealand (not including Tokelau) 
Marshall Islands 
NorwayMicronesia, Federated States of 
PolandMonaco
Portugal (includes Madeira and the Azores) 
Nauru 
Romania Nicaragua 
Slovakia Niue
Slovenia Palau
Spain (includes the Canary Islands and other overseas territories of Spain) 
Panama
SwedenParaguay
SwitzerlandPeru
United States of America (not including overseas territories and possessions of the United States of America which are in category 2) 
Seychelles
-Sint Maarten 
-Suriname
-Syria
-Tokelau 
-Tonga 
-Trinidad and Tobago

-United Arab Emirates 
-Uruguay 


The Treasury may move a territory between categories. However, the categorisation only applies from the date on which the order comes into force.

For income tax and capital gains tax there is an annual obligation to notify. If a disclosure is made that covers several years, there is a failure to notify for each year. A change of category between those years could result in different penalty maximums and minimums applying for failures for different years.

So you must always check to make sure you identify the correct category that an overseas territory was in at the date on which the person failed to notify HMRC. You can then apply the appropriate maximum and minimum penalty percentages in CH73200 (category 1), CH114600 (category 2) or CH114700 (category 3).

FA08/SCH41/PARA6A

SI2013/1618