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Monthly Archives: June 2006

The WSJ – on Barclays and its tax trick

30-Jun-06

The WSJ – on Barclays and its tax tricks
The Wall Street Journal has published an article on the tricks that a team at Barclays bank have been playing to reduce the tax bills of some of their major multinational clients. A story stub is available on the WSJ site.
The story starts as follows:
The Wall Street […]

There is no Celtic Tiger

28-Jun-06

OK, I’m an Irishman (after all, what did you expect with a name like Murphy?). Alright, I was brought up in the UK, but 27 million of the world’s 30 plus odd million Irish passport holders were born outside the place, but we remain Irish all the same. And unlike a lot of them I’ve […]

Tax professionals whould know better

28-Jun-06

Peter Penneycard, National Director of Tax at PKF, is quoted as saying “There is a huge gap between fraud and tax planning but the Government’s attitude is that they are merely different sides of the same coin.” on Shout 99.
Well, if he really said that (and I have little doubt that he did because it […]

Taxpayer’s Alliance whistling in the wind

27-Jun-06

The Taxpayer’s Alliance and others have called for the Treasury to develop a dynamic model of taxation at the weekend. But as is so often the case when the self interested talk about tax there are a number of serious flaws in their logic.
Firstly, they are a little naïve to assume that the Treasury do […]

Jersey VAT abuse

23-Jun-06

The Forum of Private Business in the UK, inspired by a remarkable record shop owner turned campaigner Richard Allen, has been campaigning against the VAT abuse where CDs and DVDs are shipped from the UK in bulk to Jersey in the Channel Islands to be returned in separate packets the next day to UK […]

7 out of 6 in Accountancy Age

23-Jun-06

Is it a bit vain to blow your own trumpet? Well, maybe, but I admit I was amused to find I had been featured in Accountancy Age on 7 occassions in the last six weeks.
The individual stories were (the more important ones being in bold):
Offshore evasion continues
By Alex Hawkes | accountancyage | Thu, 22 Jun […]

‘Sir’ Philip Green - the rewards of tax avoidance

19-Jun-06

Nick Cohen wrote eloquently in the Observer yesterday about the knighthood given to Philip Green. He noted that:
“in the spring, the BBC’s Money Programme calculated that Green and his family had ’saved themselves’ £300m from their £1.2bn salary by living for a part of the year in Monaco, whose residents don’t pay income tax.Standing up […]

Jersey passes law allowing ‘sham’ trusts for use by tax evaders

15-Jun-06

I have always had a considerable problem with the concept of trusts, even as a practicing tax accountant. But I have much more of a problem with Jersey’s new trust laws passed in May 2006 which allow the creation of ‘sham’ trusts where there is in fact no such thing, but just the bogus impression […]

What is flat tax all about?

12-Jun-06

The ACCA published a report they commissioned from me entitled “A flat tax for the UK? The implications of simplification” on 6 June.
The report was paid for by ACCA research funds and as such had to meet strict, objective academic research standards, including (as is essential for a professional institute) a neutral approach. But this […]

What is happening in the Isle of Man?

09-Jun-06

A curious tale is unfolding in the Isle of Man.
It passed its new tax legislation that, among other things introduces a 0% corporation tax rate, in March. Then they sent it to the UK for approval as is required as the Queen is the Lord of Mann.
In April they expected approval by the end of […]

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