BN66 - Round 2 (Court of Appeal)

[DonkeyRhubarb]

No chance of that I'd have thought, Montpelier is a huge diversified organisation now.

When I was in the scheme back in 2001-3 MTM were only a tiny outfit.

They have grown quite a bit since then!!!

Montpelier expansion

Montpelier is one of the UK's fastest growing professional advisers to small and medium sized businesses.

The top 35 accountancy practice has 20 offices in the UK and overseas.

Montpelier is based in the Isle of Man and has grown dramatically over recent years. It has more than 23,000 clients across 52 offices in 14 countries.

[Vallah]

I imagine that WG has made a pretty penny in that time out of it all.

[Morlock]

Hi All,

Ive mentioned before, but I am a non resident in UK for last few years, but still have a significant debt due to the BN66 retrospection. As much as I feel its all injustice, I just cant let things carry on like it either doesnt matter, or its going to go our way.

It was really just too painful and disappointing last time, and I am not going to let it get to me any longer.

I've decided to bite the bullet and do all I can to cover my liabilities for this fiasco.

I happen to have been fortunate enough to have benefited from the pounds relative weakness in recent times against my chosen countries currency. So, I transfered pretty much what I left of my life's savings to cover off this debt. Im one of the fortunate ones, and well, i am not at risk of losing my home, but I did think seeing my savings account drained would be extremely depressing, I was surprised to find it was actually a serious relief. I encourage everyone to take whatever steps they can to mitigate any shocks if things dont go our way.

As much as I want them to, they may not, and well, companies and people that survive financially troubled times generally do so by planning for the worst case scenario, not the best.

Just thought I'd share that....

Thanks again for everyone on this form. DR cant say thanks enough.

CF

Hi Clownfish,
I'm not sure I follow you. Have you paid your tax demand in full, or have you bought a Certificate of Tax Deposit. Or have you done something else entirely, eg an investment of some kind?

[JaredM]

I expect the raid was related to their latest offering which MontP didn't believe needed to be disclosed under the Anti-Avoidance Scheme. Perhaps Her Majesty's ar-se disagreed.

[RockTheBoat]

I expect the raid was related to their latest offering which MontP didn't believe needed to be disclosed under the Anti-Avoidance Scheme. Perhaps Her Majesty's ar-se disagreed.

No. Apparently it was related to another scheme that MontP aimed at the medical industry*. Would kind of make sense as HMRC were doing some fishing into that area last year when they had some amnesty where doctors could come forward and confess if they had done any dodgy biz\offshore etc etc

* source = Vallah

[Squicker]

Vallah,
Perhaps it would similarly be wise if you didn't post on the basis of speculation and rumour, no matter how well-intentioned.
There are many stressed-out people reading this forum whose livelihoods and marriages are in the balance, and to whom gossip is not helpful. Substantiated facts would be much more palatable.

But he was correct, wasn't he?

[DonkeyRhubarb]

No. Apparently it was related to another scheme that MontP aimed at the medical industry*. Would kind of make sense as HMRC were doing some fishing into that area last year when they had some amnesty where doctors could come forward and confess if they had done any dodgy biz\offshore etc etc

* source = Vallah

In actual fact, it was neither related to the contractor scheme nor the medical scheme which was never actually sold.

It relates to several schemes mainly sold in the City over the past several years.

Montpelier's position is that there were no grounds whatsoever for HMRC to allege fraud, and they will be initiating a legal counter-action.

If they are right then the IoM courts may have been misled by HMRC into granting search warrants.

As we all know, HMRC have form when it comes to misleading other authorities to serve their own agenda.

[SantaClaus]

This is getting very interesting now.

Would love to see HMRC called to account for their misdoings. and Watkin is not the kind of person who is going to let this go.

[centurian]

There seems to be a new phraseology coming out of
HMRC: 'Fraudulent tax avoidance'.

Is this the way to make avoidance illegal, claiming it as fraud?

Who knows what it means in their minds.

If I had to pin it down, I'd say it refers to using a tax avoidance measure, but to deliberately manipulate/hide certain facts so that it appears you are legal committing tax avoidance. In reality, the intentional manipulation essentially makes it a fraud, which means it's tax evasion, not avoidance.

Taking out 1 full ISA per year is avoidance - going to another bank and taking out another one without telling them you've used your allocation is fraudulent avoidance.

Doesn't apply to BN66 - you didn't manipulate any facts - it's just an argument on the point of law - avoidance, not evasion.

[OnYourBikeGB]

This is getting very interesting now.

Would love to see HMRC called to account for their misdoings. and Watkin is not the kind of person who is going to let this go.

Indeed. If HMRC have misled the IOM courts, then the whole of island's financial dealings must seem substantially less secure to any company using it for tax purposes. HMRC must have been pretty convincing or forceful, but if they have basically slandered a large tax advisor, the type of service supplier the island's wealth depends on, there will be a lot of big legal guns lining up. It's difficult to see how this could be let go. Either they stand up to the bully boys, or they and their economy will be trod on. I wonder if this is the start of more aggressive action by HMRC against the IOM in general.