It always amazes me when the 'adviser' is brought up in these cases. No FCA regulated IFA should advise a client to go into a scheme to the extent that it could bankrupt them. In fact as an IFA the last thing you want is your client to be the one where HMRC decides that a tax avoidance scheme that they previously didn't have an issue with has suddenly become a tax evasion scheme and they want to take the client to court. It's just not worth your licence.
Almost always the 'adviser' in such cases isn't regulated at all.
Should Tax Avoidance be classed as Olympic Sport. cough!
Just to add clarity tax avoidance is perfectly legal, if you're paying into an ISA or a pension then you are avoiding tax. Tax evasion is illegal, tax evasion is not paying tax that you should pay.
Ironically HMRC ran a series of social media adds recently claiming that they were 'cracking down on tax avoidance and tax evasion'. Many, many people commented on their apparent lack of understanding of the difference however with Rachel from Accounts cracking down on various tax avoidance areas such as unspent pensions, IHT AIM investments, business relief and increasing CGT the opportunities to avoid tax are becoming less and less.
Oh and Dettori? Utter ****.
Many people that invest in ISAs will have already paid income tax on the money. Those that have paid into a pension will pay tax on 75% of the money when they draw it out, and probably save the state the cost of some benefits.
As long as there is income tax, there will be people inventing schemes to provide loopholes.
In my last job, we sold holiday properties. If you sell a new one within 3 years of completion, you had to charge VAT. I was concerned with sales, and was keen to keep the prices down. So I began thinking of legal ways of avoiding charging the VAT. Our finance guy told me to stop. He said that there was a rule that if you devised something that was purely designed to avoid charging VAT, then they would charge you anyway.
Why couldnt HMRC do the same thing in regard to income tax. So if you earn over the tax free threshold, you will be required to pay income tax, end of.
Life, and particularly tax, is just not that simple.
Lanfranco Dettori was born in Italy. He was originally domiciled there. He subsequently moved to England. And then to the USA.
He has earnings from riding horses in (amongst others):-
GB, Ireland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Macao, Canada, USA, Trinidad, Japan, Singapore, Dubai and UAE.
He has ridden for both Owners and Trainers based overseas, particularly the Middle East. He has various other business interests, such as his restaurant chain. Which will be organised via separate business structures. He will have been advised since at least 2012 to funnel various income and capital to limited companies or Family.
Then there is the never-ending race between creating new Avoidance Schemes, which may or may not be declared illegal.
It is many things. But simple is not 1 of them.
Not so much if it was applied to those that live here. I wasnt necessarily referring to Dettori alone. Shouldnt we have simple rules for those that live here. There was a faily recent story about some that worked for the BBC. They ammended the way that they were paid, and opted to be paid abroad, purely to avoid income tax. So the purpose of the ammendments was purely to avoid income tax
I'll try this one last time.
There are only 2 options here. Either
1. Questions such as domicile and earnings are incredibly complex, and that is why millions of people around the World wrestle with these problems on a daily basis, spending untold £billions; or 2. You have the answer that every professional around the World has missed
Paradise Papers: Mrs Brown's Boys stars 'diverted £2m in offshore tax dodge'
The local pub was so sure that its barman was the strongest man around that they offered a standing £1000 bet.
The barman would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron.
Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time but nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice "I'd like to try the bet"
After the laughter had died down, the barman said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away.
Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man.
But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the barman paid the £1000 and asked the little man what he did for a living:
The local pub was so sure that its barman was the strongest man around that they offered a standing £1000 bet.
The barman would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron.
Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time but nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice "I'd like to try the bet"
After the laughter had died down, the barman said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away.
Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man.
But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the barman paid the £1000 and asked the little man what he did for a living:
“Are you a weightlifter?"
The man replied "I work for HMRC."
And he went back the next day and squeezed some more out.
Comments
Almost always the 'adviser' in such cases isn't regulated at all.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41886608
The barman would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron.
Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time but nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice "I'd like to try the bet"
After the laughter had died down, the barman said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away.
Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man.
But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the barman paid the £1000 and asked the little man what he did for a living:
“Are you a weightlifter?"
The man replied "I work for HMRC."