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.

Dan Neidle has just been on BBC Breakfast News.

Oh my goodness, he was brilliant. Nina Warhurst introduced him as 'a Labour leaning, tax blah bah blah'.

He straightaway put her right. And said he is not Labour leaning, he is a-political and has in the past investigated Labour ministers when necessary and said he needed to put that right before he is interviewed. BBC presenters did not like that! Well done him.

He then tore Zahawi to shreds. He said that HMRC called it 'careless' not 'deliberate' because deliberate ends up as a prosecution and despite what everyone thinks, that is a last resort by them.

He then went on to explain what he thinks/knows happened. Zahawi received £27million a couple of years ago. He stressed that this amount is a quarter of his wealth and very noticeable to receive. Zahawi then chose not to engage with tax advisers (who would've advised him to declare it, more than their job's worth not to) so he just banked it and carried on. He was found out and then spent a lot of money and time legally threatening Neidle and many others until the Sun broke the story last Sunday.

Neidle also said what I have been thinking all along.... the penalty of 30% Zahawi had to pay proves he tried to not declare this huge amount of money and when he was found out... he negotiated with HMRC about payment.

Worth a watch if anyone wants to catch up, it was about 8.15am.

Excellent @Roussette - I shall look for it.
I know nothing about Dan Niedel's politics but ex-head of tax at Clifford Chance (magic circle lawyers) wouldn't be my first choice for "Labour-leaning".

I heard Dan on the radio yesterday. He's brilliant at making this whole thing easy to understand, and he's really, really angry - Well done Dan!

And here is Dan explaining exactly what Zahawi did, much better than e!

Careless my arse... he deliberately evaded tax.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/when-i-said-nadhim-zahawi-owed-the-taxman-he-set-his-lawyers-on-me-now-hes-handed-over-millions-qjpqrhtnj

Why on earth would the BBC introduce a non Labour supporting tax lawyer as 'Labour leaning' if not an attempt to discredit what he is saying? That's really odd.

Oh scratch that question, I just read how the Chair of the BBC got the job because he acted as guarantor on a loan for Boris Johnson.

That is exactly what they did. And Dan Neidle was having none of it.

Thanks for posting this. Right wing tabloids have suppressed his massive attempts at tax avoidance and subsequent fine.
id already formed an opinion on this grasping deceitful man when I heard about his expense claim for heating stables on his country estate.
greed, dishonesty, corruption. All from the chancellor of the Exchequer. Unbelievable he’s still in post, sums up the woeful state of the country. Whilst low paid workers are vilified for refusing to accept awful working conditions and wages.

In my head he was meh as Ed Sec, but then it turns out I started this thread back in April, and actually he was shit.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4522721-Is-Nadhim-Zahawi-as-incompetent-as-Sir-Gavin-Williamson

Posted on that thread was
"Has he actually done anything since his appointment?

I believe he ensured his wife's departmental parking permit was transferred to his new department so she can continue to use ministerial parking for shopping in Knightsbridge."

I can't find it on iPlayer, it seems to stop at 7.30am. My TV doesn't let me rewind (Virgin). 🤔

Here it is on iPlayer @Peanuts2000

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hhx6/breakfast-22012023

This government is peopled with self-serving crooks and serial lawbreakers but the great British public seems not to care very much 🤷‍♀️

Roussette
Dan Neidle has just been on BBC Breakfast News
Oh my goodness, he was brilliant. Nina Warhurst introduced him as 'a Labour leaning, tax blah bah blah'.
He straightaway put her right. And said he is not Labour leaning, he is a-political

Dan Neidle
@ DanNeidle
Fair enough - I am a Labour Party member, and the BBC doesn't want to be criticised for not saying that...

4:57 PM · Jan 17, 2023

Thanks but this is the same programme that I found, finishes around 7.35am. Can't find anything after that unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

And how would his political affiliation change the facts of this case?

HMRC were presumably not 'Labour-leaning' when they fined Zahawi over a million pounds for the tax dodge.

Zahawi was caught not paying his taxes.

Someone's a bit late to the party.

It was interesting to see the discussion about Zahawi's taxes and Johnson's loans on the BBC this morning with an exTory party leader and Boris Johnson's sister - and a Foreign Secretary who adopted the Manual approach. " I know nothing"

It looks like we are living in Yes Prime Minister land at the moment

You'd think that Tory ministers would be utterly fed up by now of being wheeled out on the media rounds not to talk policy, but to defend the latest corruption.

Not surprised Cleverly couldn't be arsed to do it.

Well, they've had plenty of experience of it with Johnson

Neidle also said what I have been thinking all along.... the penalty of 30% Zahawi had to pay proves he tried to not declare this huge amount of money and when he was found out... he negotiated with HMRC about payment

Jan 2022
HMRC responses to inaccurate claims
Responses to myths, misconceptions and inaccurate stories or claims about HMRC.

HMRC does not do ‘sweetheart deals’ with anyone

www.gov.uk/government/news/hmrc-responses-to-inaccurate-claims

So if a deal wasn't struck, why wasn't Zahawi prosecuted like other tax frauds?

Not a negotiation about the level of payment, a negotiation about prosecution.

HMRC saying this was a 'careless' error rather than 'deliberate' is obvious bollocks.

Not a negotiation about the level of payment, a negotiation about prosecution

Prosecution?

July 2022
Nadhim Zahawi: New chancellor’s finances secretly investigated by National Crime Agency.

Exclusive: The NCA inquiry did not lead to any action against Zahawi and there was no suggestion of wrongdoing.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chancellor-nadhim-zahawi-nca-investigation-b2117197.html

there was no suggestion of wrongdoing.

Why was he fined over a million pounds then?

Do we routinely fine people who haven't done anything wrong? That would be a bit weird, don't you think?

Do we routinely fine people who haven't done anything wrong?

No - but you seem to be suggesting that Zahawi has 'paid off' the National Crime Agency as well as HMRC.

He's just been fined a LOT of money by HMRC

So I guess he's done something wrong.