Tesco’s tax: Every penny counts?

You might like to read this.

Tescos has not paid £1 billion of tax that we might reasonably have expected of it

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2008/05/19/tescos-tax-weve-got-a-right-to-talk-about-it/

Richard Murphy

if you include in your headline that that's over a nine year period it loses some of its potency - and is dependent inter alia on a racy 30% tax rate on accounting profits assumption.

Its one thing to talk, but why the witchhunt?

Aggression and artificiality have been widely used against taxpayers by HMRC for many years now.

Nothing could be more aggressive, artificial (and secret) than HMRC's change of practice over the application of the Settlements legislation!

"Tax expert and regular Accountingweb.co.uk contributor Simon Sweetman points out that “Given the scale of its profits, it would be astonishing if it were not. It also manages to include its payments of PAYE and NIC which are not of course burdens that it bears: it merely acts as a collector here.”" - NICs comprise an employees element and an employers element - so you make a very basic mistake!

"HMRC’s Dave Hartnett, made it plain in a recent pod cast that tax avoidance is unacceptable if it is done with “aggression, and artificiality and secrecy" - good for him. However tax aviodance is legal. Does Dave Hartnett consider himelf and HMRC to be above the law?

I'm all for moving the headquarters of our globalised supermarkets offshore to places like Ireland where they can enjoy a better tax regime just to spite the Treasury. (Am I guilty of promoting tax evasion?)

Supermarkets here should be green taxed on the goods they sell because they encourage car travel to their premises to buy from them.

The once ubiquitous corner shop with its low carbon clientèle might once again become profitable along with some corresponding accountancy business.