Angela Rayner tax fail

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

But it’s ok because she was just badly advised.
I’ll remember that excuse next time I fill in my tax return.

But still confused about one can have 2 main homes?

Honestly, is this really any worse than Jeremy Corbyn wouldve been 😡

(I know, its time to let it go, but 😡😡)

Her “family home” is in a trust for the benefit of her children (or possibly just for her disabled child, not sure). Her children live there full time, her and her ex alternate who lives there with the children and who stays elsewhere. This makes sense for stability for the kids, especially if that house has been adapted for their disabled kid.

She bought the new flat in Hove.

Her lawyers thought that as she did not actually own the family home it did not count as her residence. More specialist tax advice has now suggested that actually it may count as her residence, so she has asked HMRC to confirm how much SDLT she should pay.

I can’t stand the woman and think she’s a terrible mp, but in all honesty I don’t think she’s done much wrong here, assuming she’s telling the truth about the advice she received then it’s an understandable mistake.

She doesn't have 2 homes. She had a home which she is giving to her husband as part of a divorce settlement and she is buying a new flat in Brighton. She is paying exactly what she owes, there is nothing fraudulent or unseemly about this, it's perfectly legal.
The issue is that she is forking £800k on a flat; she doesn't have a home in her constituency; she is the minister for housing; there was an element of secrecy.

I’ll remember that excuse next time I fill in my tax return

I’m really not a fan of Rayner, but I agree with @Ooohjustalittlebit(although she’s not a terrible chancellor, but only because she isn’t chancellor)

And if you make an error after taking reasonable care, and report it to HMRC yourself (rather than HMRC uncovering it), there is every chance you will receive no penalty.

She’s not the Chancellor. She’s the Deputy PM and Housing & Communities Secretary.

I appreciate the rest of your argument - food for thought.

Ah, I see you’ve edited.

It’s really not hard to pay stamp duty on a second home. I know. I’ve done it.
sounds to me she’s put a house in a Trust as a way to avoid tax now, and in the future (inheritance etc)and has fell flat on her face.
Theyre all as bad as one another: every party.
She does need to go, irrespective of your political leanings, as all those before her who haven’t been squeaky clean.

I don’t think she’s giving it to her ex, she has said it’s in trust for their kids: one of their children is disabled after some kind of incident as a premature baby which resulted in a payment - so maybe that’s what funded the house and/or adaptations. She and her kids are entitled to some privacy about this arrangement!

I actually don’t think taxation systems (with all this primary and secondary home business) fully takes into account complications like parents divorcing but keeping a family home for the kids, the whole system needs to be updated.

This. The house was in trust for her children. Id it's not been done correctly then that's on her account/advisor.
She herself has referred herself to the board for scrutiny

Hah yes I don’t know why I said chancellor at first! Edited it after it was pointed out, she’d be even worse than Rachel reeves.

It does sound like a very complicated situation, if I've understood correctly the family home is in a trust for her disabled child. Which is probably the advice she would be given if she was an ordinary mumsnet poster.

I can believe she was advised incorrectly on a complex tax question given the circumstances.

Surely she has to go? She failed to pay enough tax and she lied about it, claimed that she'd done everything above board and got her ministerial colleagues to repeat that lie to the British public. MPs have been removed from their office for a lot less. I'd love to see the back of her!

It is very common to have a trust for disabled children and is not a tax dodge. It is about safeguarding and ensuring their long term future when they are adults and when the parents may no longer be around to manage finances etc.
please don’t call it a tax dodge. It’s not.

No excuse whatsoever.
She has access to best financial advice including the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Her behaviour overall lacks integrity.

Oh another thread about this.

I agree that she's not a bad chancellor and that she would be worse than Rachel Reeves.

I don't think she did anything wrong.

Why would there be a court order in place though? Like who would have applied for that or to have it lifted?

I imagine there was a court order to
protect her so from press intrusion and she applied to have it lifted as she couldn’t explain the situation without explaining about her child. Awful for her that she had to invade her families privacy to explain herself.

she sought advice and the advice she was given was incorrect. I’m not sure what people expect her to have done.

she’s done nothing wrong.

She did do something wrong. She didn’t pay enough tax.

Except she didn’t report it out of nowhere
Shes been outed by the press

97% agree with you OP
Im surprised 3% are still OK with tax dodging though

And she’s done the very thing she publicly criticised others for.

And what's more she has admitted in an interview today that she didn't pay enough tax.

Still there will always be those so blinkered that they will rush to her defence that "she hasn't done anything wrong " when even she has admitted it herself.

If that’s the case, she would sue her financial advisor for bad advice that caused her reputational damage and possibly may result in her losing her job. She would announce publicly that she is doing this.

Of course, this only works if her incompetent financial advisor actually exists.

She’s housing minister FFS.

Rules for thee not for me.

I don’t think she’s given details, but if she got advice from somewhere reputable that you could reasonably expect to provide accurate and correct information, then while it is still her responsibility, I don’t think she did anything other people wouldn’t have done.
If her advice was from a mate who said “yeah that’s probably fine” then I’d agree with you. But I’ve taken legal and financial advice before from qualified people I’ve engaged to give it, and if it turned out to be wrong, I wouldn’t feel like I was morally in the wrong. Most people wouldn’t know the tax arrangements for stamp duty if there is also a house in trust for a disabled child - and so most people would listen to the advice they got.

But having said that, I think she’ll probably have to resign as deputy PM anyway.

I think she will go.

As a prominent politician it's pretty much idiocy to do anything remotely questionable tax wise, especially if the press can find out about it.

Labour were all over Johnson so hardly surprising the Tories react the same way when they get the opportunity to hunt down wrongdoing.

We are now in a febrile political environment where the press and indeed the world is watching to pounce on any public figure for their personal activities, either well intentioned/mistakes or otherwise. So ultimately as a politician it makes sense to check and double check your affairs very very carefully indeed.

This is the problem with holding other people to very high standards. You have to make sure you live up to those standards yourself.