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?

Imagine thinking that somewhere you spend a substantial amount of time isn't your home…

From the little I remember from my time in financial planning, if she lives in the Trust property she may have to pay rent, otherwise it's still classed as part of her estate as she has a beneficial interest. Her office has already issued a statement saying the Ashton home is her main residence for council tax purposes, so why would Hove be classed as a second home for c/tax but not for stamp duty? It just stinks.

I think you are clutching at straws here. She is blooming Housing Minister. She has admitted she was badly advised but I honestly wonder whether she really didnt understand the trust or alternatively thought she might be able to get away with it.

Do I honestly think she told the 'legal' person her housing arrangements, it was handled by an inexperienced clerk and NO ONE more senior checked anything despite the fact they knew it was Angela Raynor the DPM.

NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!!

Her office has already issued a statement saying that the Ashton home is still her main residence and where she pays council tax. She may no longer have a full beneficial interest in the property (depending on how the trust is set up), but she has still declared it as her home so she absolutely has two (well, three when you count the one which comes with her job) homes. A home is not dependent on ownership.

Using her disabled child as an excuse is pretty grim.

Another Labour MP used the 'West Indian women go to the wall for their children' when trying to justify sending her son to a private school. Its the same thing.

It is extremely difficult to get advice on a trust for a vulnerable person. Most lawyers and financial advisors are set up to give advice to rich people on tax avoidance.

If your aim is a trust for a vulnerable person where you and your divorcing partner can nest they are clueless. This is not a normal situation and advice can be poor.

AR tried to do the right thing for her disabled child and received poor advice.

If her intention was to avoid tax it would have been easy. Set up an offshore limited company to buy the flat in Hove.

Did she intend to avoid tax or work with her ex in her disabled child’s benefit?

FWIW I tear up inappropriately when reminded that my child will never live independently. It’s hard to be objective about viscerally emotive issues. I don’t do it for sympathy. I prefer to lie awake at 3am to worry about what will become of my child when I die so my mascara doesn’t run.

It appears not, doesn't it?

We used to be told that people only criticise Angela because she's a working class northern girl - as if they haven't criticised much better placed tories too - and now she's going for the "mum of a disabled child" gambit

I wonder what'll be next ...

What an embarrassingly pathetic argument.
Neither Johnathon Harmsworth or Akshata Murty are our elected representatives in Government. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition has done no worse than Rachel Reeves, the elected government representative holding the second highest office and who suffered no consequences. And neither being non-resident for tax, or holding a Green Card are illegal.
Unlike tax evasion, which definitely is...

Once the PM says someone has his full support, you know their days are numbered.

This.. just blame the lawyer. Laughing at the Labour voters who actually thought Labour MP’s were any different.

I doubt she would undermine their privacy and use it as an excuse if she was above board and did get bad advice.

This incident is directly related to her being a mum of a disabled child, though?

It certainly isnt difficult to get the correct advice. Stop making excuses for her. She would have had the best of the best as DPM. She might need to pay for it but so what. She mentioned co parenting a number of times in the interview and yet she buys a property 100's of miles away. Just why?

Read this post and get some decency and perspective.

That's to all the cheap shots about 'using' a disabled child.

She tried to protect his privacy until the vultures forced her to ask the court to allow her to speak freely. Without the explanation about her child, not much would make sense. It now does.

Why is it unlikely?

It is a fact that when you buy a property you engage a conveyancing solicitor. That solicitor advises you how much stamp duty to pay.

She says she followed legal advice which tracks with that process

I am not taking her word for it. I am simply accepting that she followed the usual process and had the same experience that I, and thousands of other people have when buying a property because there is no evidence to the contrary.

Do you know of factual, proven evidence that she did not follow that usual process, that she colluded with her solicitor or that she was actually given correct advice which she ignored?

If there is that evidence or if it comes to light later on then yes, she should resign - but until then, this is nothing but a witch hunt!

Just because you'd love to see her go, doesn't mean she should.
Boris lied and lied and lied.
As others have explained well, this is more the question of a complex tax question and incorrect advice.

assuming she’s telling the truth about the advice she received then it’s an understandable mistake.

She needs to use her dc to garner sympathy which is pretty bad in itself.

Brighton makes sense as a different home for her children in the holidays and is an easy commute to London for her job on the weeks she isn't in her constituency/ parenting because her ex husband is.

So if a women started a thread saying she had divorced her husband, they had a disabled child and the husband was wanting to co parent from Hove when they lived in Ashton.

That would be doable? All the Labour supporters would agree that was a fabulous situation and would 100% work?

Yep - this is exactly it for me. You can't run a campaign of vilification without being whiter than white and living by the virtues you extol.

So many people saying "oh but she has her reasons". Doesn't everyone think they do when it comes to tax? How on earth are regular people meant to be persuaded to "do the right thing" if this is how our cabinet (no less the housing minister) acts?

People have cited Shoosmiths as the advisor, they look reputable and this is bread and butter stuff. Their reputation is tied to getting basic advice right so I hope they protect their reputation.

She’s used her disabled son as an excuse.

Starmer used a trans kids death to have a go at Sunak.

Labour really do stoop to the lowest depths.

I have voted Labour all my life and even I find this unacceptable. She has clearly wrapped one house up in a Trust for financial reasons and then thought she could get away with not paying full stamp duty on the second. How can she excuse paying the right council tax for property one, yet suddenly be calling property two her main home?

Of course she’s one in a long line of politicians who think the rules don’t apply to them until they get caught. But it just destroys trust in them. My 98 year old mum is self funding in a care home and got some interest on savings last year - of course HMRC have been on her like a ton of bricks, changing her tax code to claw it back. If I know that’s right, why doesn’t AR know she has to pay her taxes? As for those people saying there’s no harm - you do realise not paying tax is illegal right? And if we all did it …

I have no issue with AR personally as some do, but millions of us are doing the right thing and the deal is that you do too. Wrong advice my arse - that’s a five minute search on the internet.

She has brought a flat. The house in Ashton was adapted in accordance with his needs. Do you really think they will be spending holidays in a flat 100's of miles away which is very unlikely to be developed for a person with complex needs?

We really are scraping the barrel now to justify all of this and to buy so far away.

Of course she has to pay for all personal legal advice. I hope that she took advice from someone relatively senior given the obvious complexities of the trust. She would then have every reason to assume the advice was sound. Tbh, people should be able to have confidence in all lawyers practising in their own field, but I'm not clear that all conveyancers would be equipped to give advice on the tax implications in a situation like this.