Cable Forum - Peter Mandelson gets £400,000 tax-free loan from company he owns.

"Peter Mandelson received £400,000 tax-free in cash last year from a company he owns, accounts filed recently at Companies House reveal. The company, of which he is the sole shareholder, gave the former secretary of state a loan for that amount in the financial year 2013/14 – a move described by a leading tax campaigner as likely to have been motivated by tax avoidance.

Salary payments or dividends from a small business are liable for tax under UK rules, but in the case of a loan to a director – provided a certain minimum rate of interest specified by HMRC is charged – the borrowing is not liable for tax. The official interest rate that applied at the time was 3.25%."

Guardian.