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Star
A much devalued term
Jade Goody
Starbucks sleep well at night, why can't the dead also rest in peace.
What has the price of coffee to do with anything?
Starbucks sleep well at night, why can't the dead also rest in peace.
I don't believe that the behaviour of large corporations has anything to do with this particular story. In any event, however morally questionable their activities are, if they are legal then they are legal. GAAR may have some impact, though - we'll need to wait and see.
Such claims are like me being stopped doing 90mph on the motorway and pleading unfairness because the cops should be out there dealing with the real criminals. If you're in the wrong, you're in the wrong - everything and everyone else is irrelevant.
In this case, however unfortunate it may be for the family, if an expense is non-deductible it is non-deductible and HMRC are entitled to make any appropriate adjustment.
Of course, we don't know much about the actual items in question (and bear in mind the publication that reported this story - a paper not unknown for sensationalism). It would appear that there is sufficient doubt such that HMRC are going to be challenged, but that is all we know. If it turns out that the expenses were clearly non-deductible then the question has to be asked as to why they were deducted in the first place. Which leads to the question as to who her tax advisers were. It would be rather ironic if it were one of the Big 4.
So typical of HMRC
They daren't take on the multi-national crooks like Starbucks with their big4 tax specialists with a foot in each camp, or a certain energy firm that has paid no tax for 3 years, but they can take on someone who is dead and deny 2 children an education. Yet again HMRC show themselves up to be a cowardly despicable rabble.
Pre-planning
It just goes to show the importance of pre-planning.
Money doesn't solve everything, and it is sad that she died so young, but as she knew the seriousness of her illness I would have thought she would take advice over the future well being of her children, and not just in cash terms.
I agree with BKD. It looks like she didn't get very good tax advice.
EDIT: I hardly think the following inflammatory comment was justified ..... "Yet again HMRC show themselves up to be a cowardly despicable rabble.".
They are just doing what they should be doing ... aren't they????
Agree with BKD
If the tax is due then the tax is due. It makes no difference if others don't pay as much tax as we might like (and as BKD says, if the others aren't breaking the law.....) or whether it would be warmer and fluffier if the sons' school fees were paid.
And I'm not even going to comment on why a wedding could be a business expense!!!!!
Plenty of parents die and don't leave enough to pay for their families (and that's without large tax bills). Why should this case be different just because she was well-known?
So very true
People should remember that prior to 1789 it was perfectly legal for the French aristocracy to pay little or no tax while the peasants and artisans had to bear the entire burden of the cost of the French state I seem to remember that this arrangement did not end well for those in charge of the system.
Law or morals
French state I seem to remember that this arrangement did not end well for those in charge of the system.
Then it was the aristocracy by birth, now it is the aristocracy of business, but the resentment is the same. We saw what happened when the poll tax was defeated, and people are now reaching the same stage with corporate tax evasion. Starbucks have already been targeted, but that, I believe, is just the beginning.
What I find disappointing is that some accountants are so lacking in morals that they actually approve of, or even assist these companies in defrauding the ordinary taxpayer by using tax rules in ways they were never intended to be used. The way these companies evade tax may be legal, but it is certainly not ethical or moral.