Forget Sunak's seatbelt, what about Zahawi's taxes?

[noblegiraffe]

Our former Chancellor, it would seem, is only able to say that he has paid his taxes in full, because he realised the gig was up, he'd been caught and went to HMRC to sort it out.

And the reason it hasn't been a bigger story is that the litigious Mr Zahawi hired a firm of lawyers to send off threatening letters to anyone investigating, stating, untruthfully, that these letters had to remain confidential.

Calculations suggest that if he had to pay £3.7 million in back-taxes, this would imply £27 million in undeclared income, representing about a 1/4 of his net worth. This, therefore, is not small change, or a tiny oversight.

The timeline of events is worth reading, here www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2023/01/19/zahawi_story/

Not sure what the fine is for not wearing a seatbelt, but Zahawi had to pay a 30% penalty on his unpaid taxes, meaning that his claims that his taxes were filed and paid correctly is untrue.

He was Chancellor of the Exchequer while this was going on.

No wonder he was so supportive of Boris, going as far as to say teachers should remain impartial when discussing lawbreaking politicians

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4480290-Teachers-should-remain-impartial-on-matters-of-lawbreaking-by-politicians-says-Zahawi

Of course whether his tax-dodging is illegal depends on whether it counts as tax avoidance or tax evasion. No idea on that front, given how easily the rich seem to get away with this stuff.

No interest?

This is the guy who was in charge of the Treasury spouting off about reversing planned corporation tax hikes (personal interest, hmm?)

The guy who boasted about reducing the education budget while Education Secretary.

The guy who said "It’s only right that we exercise fiscal discipline when it comes to public-sector pay."

All while not declaring an estimated £27 million in income which would have brought millions in taxes into the coffers.

Another example of this government casually lining their own pockets while banging on about fiscal responsibility and how times are tough economically right now. Not for them, eh, as they help themselves to more of our cash.

I am so sick of these money-grabbing bastards painting nurses (nurses!) and other public sector workers as selfish and greedy for wanting an actual pay rise to counter the cost of living crisis, all while doing very well themselves, thank you very much.

We are not all in this together.

I'm interested however as I presume if there is an investigation, the report will be buried just like the Russia report, party gate and the PPE scandal. They are the most corrupt government that I can remember- this one and the previous two (led by truss and Johnson) yet are untouchable.

Boris' biggest donor has miraculously been given a huge contract yet this also goes under the radar.

Sunak's fine is £100.

It's disgusting and I'm furious. Sajid Javid saying that we all have to pay for GP and NHS treatment today. FFS, if his corrupt crony colleagues actually paid tax or didn't defraud the public purse (allegations against Mone for example) maybe we would have enough for the NHS.

as I presume if there is an investigation, the report will be buried

Not sure there will be an investigation as they can just point to the matter being dealt with by HMRC and 'cleared up' as if it were a simple misunderstanding.

They are certainly peddling that line hard in the media now.

Yes it's disgusting and outrageous.

It's absolutely disgusting. He's clearly lied repeatedly, and threatened people in an attempt to avoid scrutiny. The fact that Sunak hasn't immediately sacked him just continues the tradition of Tories protecting each other because they're all as bad as each other.

Lest we forget , this 'former chancellor' is now chair of the Conservative party.

He is claiming 'careless error' which is what he also claimed when taxpayer money was used to heat his horse stables.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nadhim-zahawi-says-using-taxpayer-cash-to-heat-horse-stables-was-genuine-mistake_uk_62cbd961e4b0359fa47d9746

How many more genuine mistakes has he made in his finances that we have yet to find out about?

And if he is that careless with money, how did he ever get made Chancellor?

And he certainly shouldn't be Chair of the Party.

How can you accidentally forget tax?

Well, cake, you can start forgetting about tax as you slither up the ranks of the Tory Party, accumulating indecent amounts of wealth as you go. When you get to a certain point, you enter a state of fugue regarding your tax affairs. Don't distress yourself, its just a little local difficulty for the pusillanimous bunch of asset-stripping chancers we're privileged to call our government.

It seems that you found a company called YouGov, then set up a company in Gibraltar that ‘your parents own’, then you give that company all your YouGov shares. When the YouGov shares rake in millions in dividends, no capital gains tax is paid in Gibraltar because it’s a tax haven.

This Gibraltar company then pays you money.

So easy a mistake to make.

I mean, that is clearly not a legitimate scheme, right?

Clearly not legitimate. It should be shocking, but it's not.

In any decent government, he'd be kicked out / forced to resign

It's appalling. He's appalling (don't forget he was at that dreadful President's Club men-only dinner where groping was on the menu). HMRC have concluded it wasn't deliberate - but just how much pressure have they been put under, and that means there were suspicions that it was deliberate - therefore tax evasion.

Even if ( huge if) there was no intent to defraud, as an ex- chancellor and current party chairman, avoiding paying such a huge hunk of tax is immoral.

It will make for an interesting PMQs on Wednesday.

I guess it's relatively easy to set up tax avoidance schemes if you have the money

It is absolutely appalling. And despite him and others saying it was 'carelessness' and not 'deliberate', that is absolute BS.

If you have genuinely made a mistake, HMRC do not slap a penalty plus interest on to you. That is what Zahawi has. Over a million £ in penalties and interest.

A little careless with his own money lol. Yeah right. He is a fully fledged tax dodging ex Chancellor.

Which bit was the carelessness? Accidentally giving all his shares to his parent's company in a tax haven? That's not forgetting to return your form on time, is it?

I mean he’s not exactly your average self-employed person doing an HMRC self-assessment return online, is he? The idea that the sort of accountants that someone making that much would make a careless, innocent mistake stretches credibility, to say the least.

*someone making that much would employ

A tax advisor and/or Accountant worth his salt would not make a mistake like this. It was choice. Not carelessness

He ought to be kicked out of the Conservative Party.

Obviously Tax Evasion and has been caught out under investigation.

Its obviously not "a mistake" but "planning" that didn't work. Don't know enough about it to know if that's because it was poorly implemented or was never within the rules.

Either way, surely Zahawi has to be toast now? He was Chancellor and this has come out. Not a good look at all. The Dan Neidler blog in the first post is worth reading: he did a lot of digging and Zahawi's lawyers put in overtime to try to bury the story.

He should be toast.

Sunak said that he would be different to Johnson who never sacked anyone. Will Sunak actually do anything about it?

You are all being very mean to him. Who hasn’t carelessly not paid 3.7million in tax? Fortunately HMRC are very forgiving about things like that because they are too busy chasing up small amounts from people who can’t afford to pay it back and were overpaid tax credits through no fault of their own. Those are the real criminals.