So now Hong Kong and the UK have agreed (though not yet enforced) the exchange of tax information (OECD)

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/hongkong-dta.pdf

Any thoughts on what the effect of this is on UK citizens who are non-resident for tax purposes and earning money outside of the UK through offshore HK based companies?

Edited July 6, 201016 yr by Jonesy99

It's a double taxation agreement that ensures residents of one country don't pay tax twice when working in the other country. If you are UK non-resident for tax purposes and you are not HK resident for the same, using a HK based company for billing purposes should not affect you. I've used a HK company for many years and the only time I ran into difficulty was when I was actually resident in HK for a tax year and I ended up paying HK tax. The new agreement shouldn't affect although you need to be clear about the residency side of things.

O/shore bank accounts will be the number one target, you're done to a dinner ol son, ATO Australia had a amnesty project, for o/shore accounts,expired end of June,so i guess the UK government will introduce something similar.

O/shore bank accounts will be the number one target, you're done to a dinner ol son, ATO Australia had a amnesty project, for o/shore accounts,expired end of June,so i guess the UK government will introduce something similar.

The tax treaty referred to by the OP doesn't have anything to do with offshore accounts or income reporting, it's purely about double taxation. You are correct however that offshore accounts have come into focus by HMRC and there are now reporting agreements in place with a number of previously offshore countries/locations, a part of the EU savings directive I believe.