Nick Huber

Freelance journalist

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Corporate offshore trusts owe taxman £2bn

Nick Huber

26th Jul 2013

2 comments

Nick Huber

Freelance journalist

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More than £2bn in unpaid tax remains to be collected from offshore trusts that companies unlawfully used to allow employees to minimise income tax, according to HMRC.

Internal estimates obtained by The Times reveal that two years after starting a settlement scheme to encourage businesses to come forward and pay the outstanding tax, HMRC has collected less than a quarter of the amount it believes it is owed by companies that used employee benefit trusts (EBTs) to disguise remuneration.

Legal experts told the newspaper that most companies targeted by the taxman believed that the terms were too rigid and have decided to wait to see if the department relaxes its stance. Others have opted to take their chances in litigation.

The figures have been revealed as the Revenue prepares to appeal in a dispute about a scheme used by Rangers Football Club to distribute £49m to staff and players. The first tier tax tribunal ruled in November that the scheme was lawful, but HMRC is challenging the decision.

The tax office believes that 6,500 companies used employee trusts as a mechanism to pay high-earners. The trusts were particularly popular with big banks in the early 2000s as a way of distributing tax-free bonuses, but were also used by many small family-owned companies. HMRC estimates that £3bn of tax has been sheltered in the schemes it has identified.

It argues that the trusts are illegitimate. In 2011, it launched a scheme encouraging companies to come forward and pay the income tax and NI, and avoid litigation through the tax tribunal. Months later, it passed laws banning the use of the trusts to pay disguised remuneration.

Since the settlement scheme started, 500 companies have repaid £650m in tax, the Revenue said. The department is in talks with another 400 companies, which it expects to yield another £300m.

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By frustratedwithhmrc

26th Jul 2013 14:00

Given the judgement against HMRC this is unsurprising...

Given the judgement against HMRC this is unsurprising, certainly if I was in the position of these trusts, I'd be weighing up the value of coughing up in full or delaying until HMRC come up with better settlement terms.

I hasten to add that I'm not sympathetic to their plight. Simply pointing out their position.

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By itp3asso

29th Jul 2013 12:47

corporate offshore trusts
less than a quarter colle cted in two years . pitiful .

oh yes we v got the thing under control fear not!!!

a bit like that other govt piece of pr nonsense which said after sept 11th or london or madrid

"whatever ... we must not let what these people do interfere with the way we go about our lives...... we must continue to do everything exactly as before otherwise they will have won "

yes ---- so when wr go thru customs around the world we dismiss that we have to endure security checks which entail going half naked thru the bleep machine sAns belt with trousers falling down sans shoes sans watch sans glasses and the machine still beeps . so you are told to go back and be hand searched . meanwhile holding your trousers up with one hand and with eyes right to the convetor belt to ensure your life s documents passport money etc are not being flilched you are told by the customs officer to look EYES FRONT as " your propetty is oeffectly safe sir ... " (famous last words ) as if we are trying to smuggle something thru in the back of our retina ....and when thre bleep bleeps again because ... hey !!!.. it will ALWAYS bleep if you have old type fillings in your teeth... they then pass you thru and say do not worry sir the machine sometimes registers erroneously ( !!!)... you are then left to be crushed by the on coming stampede while you try to re belt and re boot and re dress in a space the size of a thumbnail ..

yeah sure .... dream on !!

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