A major promotional campaign will be needed if a tax amnesty planned for September is to be more effective than a previous effort, according to a Midland expert.

Simon Littlejohns, tax partner at PKF Accountants and business advisers in Birmingham, says that without effective publicity this time, the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) may not even be noticed by many offshore bank account holders.

"It is widely acknowledged that the take-up rate for the last amnesty - the Offshore Disclosure Facility - in 2007 was significantly lower than expected, largely because many of the individuals potentially affected really knew little about it," he said.

"Unlike the 'shop your plumber scheme' there were no major press or TV campaigns promoting the ODF, despite the fact that HM Revenue and Customs expected it to yield far more tax revenue. 

"HMRC only wrote to customers of the five main UK banks but, buried in the small print on HMRC's website, it was confirmed that any UK resident individual or business could have used the ODF."

Mr Littlejohns said that despite its title, the Offshore Disclosure Facility applied to all tax irregularities, even onshore ones.

"We will never know how many people with onshore tax arrears might have come forward had they known that they could use the facility and benefit from the reduced penalty rate.

"The new disclosure opportunity should also be publicised in foreign language newspapers and other media serving foreign nationals living in the UK.

"Some non-domiciled individuals may benefit from using the NDO and need to be told it applies to them."

Under the New Disclosure Opportunity, HMRC will allow individuals who did not previously have the opportunity of using the ODF to disclose tax arrears and only suffer penalties at a rate of ten per cent.

Simon Littlehohns continued: "Everyone resident in the UK in 2007 could in theory have used the ODF. HMRC must now accept that it did not publicise the ODF properly.

"The NDO should be a win-win for everyone - allowing individuals to come clean relatively cheaply and for HMRC to collect tax arrears for relatively little effort.

"HMRC says it has no plans for a further amnesty or disclosure facility so it must get this one right."