Tax exiles

As far as I am aware Topshop and BHS pay UK corporation tax on their profits - it's only their holding company that is registered offshore. Anyway, by virtue of the fact that they trade in the UK would make them liable to UK tax on their profits anyway regardless as to where the actual corporate entity was registered or managed/controlled.

Riven. I didn't know Emins work was ART!

Love to be a tax exile............

kerstina, what bugs me about Topshop & BHS is why they are not registered in the UK, the fact that they are registered in a tax haven smacks of greed & a desire to avoid paying tax in the UK by the companies owner who is Sir Phillips wife. If every company in the UK registered their business in a tax haven we would be in dire straits. I will not step foot in TopShop or BHS in future, I won't be contributing a penny of my money towards Mrs.Green's whopping record breaking dividend payments. One other thing that I find hard to understand is if you receive £1.2 billion pounds in one year surely the tax element of £285 million is a drop in the ocean, so why go to extreme lengths to avoid paying it.
Crackdown on tax avoidance, what a joke.

It does'nt sit well with me that the government employ Sir Green who is conciously using a tax avoidance scheme to benefit him & his family. The only reason I can think why he is employed as an advisor is that maybe Sir Green is a conservative party financial donor who would not like to see the rules changed re: tax avoidance.

When Osborne talked about 'offshore tax avoidance' (and you didn't hear him wrong) I think he was referring to the highly organised schemes that exist. It wouldn't be all that difficult, from what I gather, to tweak the rules slightly and make them less lucrative and therefore less popular.

kerstina, according to Dispatches there are 70 tax havens around the world that were set up by Britain. Labour were about to introduce strict rules to stop companies from using tax havens for tax avoidance but recently the coalition scrapped this, I wonder why?
leandro, I am sure George Osbourne actually said he wanted to crackdown on "Offshore Tax Avoidance" not Evasion, I could be wrong and mis-heard. I wonder who he is specifically talking about, who are the tax avoiders he wants to crackdown on?

I always laugh at people who object to tax avoidance as most of those who would be the first to reduce their tax bill if given the chance.

PAYE is just part and parcel of being a salaried employee. All very safe, neat and tidy. Go it alone as a sole trader or set up your own company and it's much higher risk but the scope for reassigning income/expenditure to make the most of tax allowances instantly improves.... even without large amounts of money at stake.

I'm impressed that Sir Philip Green can get out of £285m but anyone know how much he and his companies pay into the Exchequer?

But the problem is, the more money you have, the more scope there is for tax avoidance.

The average paye employee has none such opportunity. Therefore, whilst legal, it's actually just another form of regressive taxation.

Tax avoidance is perfectly legal and I have no problems with it. If I could find a way to pay less tax then I would and I don't think I would be alone . Tax evasion is what is wrong and what the Government is looking to reduce.

"Exploiting loopholes does not make it right, just because it's legal"

Legal means something is within the law. Tax avoidance is making the tax laws work in your favour. Ethics don't really come into it. No-one is ever suddenly seized by some moral compulsion to pay more tax than they've been asked for... don't care who they are.

Tax evasion is outside the law.. it's fraud.... and so if you get a bill for tax and simply refuse to pay it you are a criminal, no less. Benefit cheats, like tax evaders are acting fraudulently, outside the law and they are criminals.

"Very rich people often put more back into society than we appreciate. People like Philip Green who run large commercial organisations, for example, employ thousands directly and provide indirect employment for suppliers and contractors. Others donate a lot to charity or set up foundations."

Hang on hang on, I give to charity, I've been known to do the odd bit of voluntary work. That does not mean that I am not liable for my tax bill.

He got a payment of £1.2 billion. His income tax revenue on that would have been half of the savings made in means testing child benefit.

Tax avoidance is simply a matter of law vs ethics. Exploiting loopholes does not make it right, just because it's legal.

Osborne seems very clear this week to brand benefit cheats as nothing more than muggers, and yet somehow this is all to be applauded because they employ people and do the odd benefit gig.

I shake my head in despair every day.

I'm not at all surprised that Sir Philip Green structures his companies in order to pay as little tax as possible whilst staying within the law. I organise my rather more limited finances with exactly the same objective.... and can I recommend Martin Lewis' excellent 'moneysavingexpert.com' site to point out how that can be acheived?

If the rules are bad, change the rules. In the meantime, don't feign all this mock horror that someone will use the rules to their own advantage.

If people leave, sell their UK assets and do not earn in this country and do not spend more than a a few months in the UK per year there is nothing the UK can do. You pay income tax and capital gains tax in the country you are resident in because of double taxation treaties.

Non Doms is a different issue.

Chil1234, according to Dispatches on tonight Sir Phillip Green does not own TopShop or BHS , it is under a company called Tabitha Ltd based in tax haven of Jersey and his wife is the owner. Mrs.Green was paid the largest ever corporate dividend payment totalling £1.2 billion pounds, a tax saving of £285 million pounds. Mind boggling is'nt it.

Very rich people often put more back into society than we appreciate. People like Philip Green who run large commercial organisations, for example, employ thousands directly and provide indirect employment for suppliers and contractors. Others donate a lot to charity or set up foundations. There is an increasingly small number of 'Bertie Wooster' type people that inherit vast wealth & do nothing with it - but inheritance tax means we get a share of that when they die.

I think non-dom ought to pay more tax. I also think the stamp rules should be changed to prevent non-doms buying property in the UK via off-shore trusts/ off-shore companies thereby paying no stamp duty.