Tax havens exposed in huge law firm leak

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Could you point out what illegal act he has committed, or which taxes he hasn't paid, or is that irrelevant?

Was he supposed to declare his off shore activities in the register of members interests? Wonder if the committee for standards in public life will be interested.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Was he supposed to declare his off shore activities in the register of members interests? Wonder if the committee for standards in public life will be interested.

Only if the shareholding was worth more than a year's salary - an MP's salary in 2009 was £64,766, and the shares were sold in 2010 for around £30k.

http://www.publications.parliament.u.../735/73504.htm

16. Financial thresholds below which interests are not registrable apply except in Categories 1, 2 and 3, and the thresholds for the categories vary. All single benefits of whatever kind which exceed the applicable threshold (if any) should be registered in the appropriate Category. Category 4 requires the registration of all benefits received from the same source which amount to more than £1,500 in a calendar year, in increments of more than £500. Categories 5, 6 and 7 require the registration of all benefits, received from the same source in the course of a calendar year, which cumulatively amount to more than 1 per cent of the current parliamentary salary.[9] Category 8 requires the registration of property worth more than 100% of a Member's annual parliamentary salary[10] or rental income worth 10% of that salary.[11] Category 9 requires the registration of shareholdings worth more than 100% of the annual parliamentary salary. Category 10 applies the same threshold as Category 4. In addition, if a Member considers that any benefit he or she has received falls within the definition of the main purpose of the Register set out in paragraph 11, even though it does not exceed the 1 per cent threshold, the Member should register it under Category 11 (Miscellaneous). The threshold for Category 12 is, again 1% of the annual parliamentary salary.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Was he supposed to declare his off shore activities in the register of members interests? Wonder if the committee for standards in public life will be interested.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...m-fathers-off/
Apparently they are going to be wanting a word with Dave. And JC has to overtaken him in the popularity ratings... Never mind Dave, at least there's no Scottish/welsh/council/London mayor/referendum votes imminent...

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Was he supposed to declare his off shore activities in the register of members interests? Wonder if the committee for standards in public life will be interested.

The registers(past and present) are available on the internet and so are the rules(past and present). At some point everything will have been handed over to a blind trust, so that he would have no idea what was going on.

[Gary L]

On his way to the airport with suitcases full of money

[nomadking]

Look at it this way. The arrangement maximised income for the shareholders, which in turn MAXIMISED the tax they paid.

Originally Posted by Mr K

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...m-fathers-off/
Apparently they are going to be wanting a word with Dave. And JC has to overtaken him in the popularity ratings... Never mind Dave, at least there's no Scottish/welsh/council/London mayor/referendum votes imminent...

I will look forward to a labour landslide in the election then. LOL

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Gary L

On his way to the airport with suitcases full of money

Gary L at home




See what I did there? Random picture, attach words to it

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

Gary L at home

A letter in Friday's Times.

Sir, David Cameron wants to lead the global campaign to stamp out tax avoidance but his actions suggest he is encouraging the practice rather than battling it. He stopped the EU developing a register of personal trusts, which allow rich individuals to hide their money. He changed tax rules, like the controlled foreign company rules, to create tax haven conditions in the UK so that global companies set up artificial structures here to avoid tax.

And he has yet to deliver on tax havens. Transparency is critical so that we know who owns the assets hidden across the world. We can then identify unlawful activity and collect the appropriate taxes. Having public registers of ownership in the tax havens matters. Our overseas territories include the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Some refuse to compile such registers, others to publish them.

In 1991 a Conservative government used Privy Council powers to instruct the overseas territories to abolish capital punishment. In 2000 Labour used the same powers to outlaw discrimination against gays. Cameron now has the chance to use the powers to instruct the UK tax havens to compile and publish registers of beneficial ownership. He should do so.

Dame Margaret Hodge MP (Lab)

Chair, public accounts select committee 2010-15

http://www.offshoreumbrellacompanies...x-avoider-too/

Offshore Tax Avoider

You couldn’t make it up. Not too long after it was revealed that two senior managers at HMRC were putting their salaries through Limited Companies to save tax, whilst hunting down genuine contractors who were doing so, it’s now being revealed that the Hammer of Google, Facebook, Starbucks etc., Labour MP Margaret Hodge, has a share in an offshore fund as well and is an offshore tax avoider.

Just as it was revealed that Chancellor Osborne is an offshore tax avoider and has an offshore family trust worth £4.5m and that David Cameron’s father Ian was an offshore tax avoider and made most of his money (and David Cameron’s inheritance) from offshore funds, it is now being revealed that the Chairperson of the Committee which looks into tax affairs and tax avoidance has a share in an offshore fund too and is an offshore tax avoider too.

Stemcor

She has a shareholding in Stemcor – which paid just 0.01% tax last year. Google and Amazon would be proud of that. Hodge claimed in a grilling by Michael Crick that she just had a small shareholding in the company run by her brother who is an offshore tax avoider.

However it turns out that her shareholding is 1.26% of the company. That would mean that she would have been paid out £56,939 in dividends last year. Her shareholding is now worth £1.8m – hardly a tiny, tiny amount as she claimed.

Stemcor have confirmed that it doesn’t even include shareholdings in her children’s names. It turns out that she owns several million pounds worth of shares when you include her children’s shareholdings – which will now pay no inheritance tax on it.

She was asked to explain what other purpose that there could be other than avoiding tax for her share in the trust? She hadn’t replied so far.

It’s always been the case that those in the know have been using these tax avoidance schemes to save paying their full whack of taxes. The top Tories have been offshore tax avoiders for a long time. Now it looks like Labour MPs are at it too – while bashing multinational companies and genuine contractors who now use offshore umbrella companies.

[denphone]

Now if l hear any more politicians come out with "We are all in this together" then they will get this

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by denphone

Now if l hear any more politicians come out with "We are in this together" then they will get this

I think a new phrase is needed: "They're all in it together"

[denphone]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

I think a new phrase is needed: "They're all in it together"

Its still early in the morning old bean.

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc

I'm not bothered about it tbf. I'm more bothered about the way he called out the likes of Jimmy Carr for stuff like this.

As far as I'm aware, it was legal and paid UK taxes upon being withdrawn back to a UK account as well as occurring before he was even PM

It's nothing like the Jimmy Carr affair . Jimmy Carr used the K2 avoidance scheme ,Cameron invested £12,000 in an offshore bank account and paid tax on the profit from the interest he earned

I think the shares issue is a sideshow..I want more pressure/leverage being used to get this government to actually to ensure more transparency over offshore companies/individuals tax affairs and to finally get some of the tax being salted away back into this country's coffers so we can pay down the country's debt.

Soon there is going to be no more fat to pare down to pay off that debt.