No To Retro Tax – Campaign Against Section 58 Finance Act 2008

[lucozade]

HMRC treatment

The million dollar questions but they are ones that everybody asks me when I explain our situation.

Why are HMRC treating us differently to the likes of Jimmy Carr?
Will they be retrospectively hammering Jimmy Carr for all the tax he saved on a perfectly legal scheme?
If not then surely this is the basis for our arguments in the tax tribunals.

[Buzby]

The million dollar questions but they are ones that everybody asks me when I explain our situation.

Why are HMRC treating us differently to the likes of Jimmy Carr?
Will they be retrospectively hammering Jimmy Carr for all the tax he saved on a perfectly legal scheme?
If not then surely this is the basis for our arguments in the tax tribunals.

its not just Jimmy Carr scheme, lots of others have been closed without any retrospection. Ours was the first and, as far as I know no other since. I believe the government did something so that the injustice of section 58 cannot happen again.

so I keep thinking why our scheme, I think its because we were with MTM and HMRC would do anything to stop MTM continuing to grow and market more schemes. I wonder if HMRC has now said to Gauke that if they screw 3,000 IT contractors it will be a warning to others about what can happen if you use utilise the wrong tax planning scheme.

HMRC want to stop having to go to court, no such thing as legal tax planning to them.

[helen7]

Will they be retrospectively hammering Jimmy Carr for all the tax he saved on a perfectly legal scheme?
If not then surely this is the basis for our arguments in the tax tribunals.

Can this legally be used as an arguement at a tax tribunal? Surely they look at what is law (and not if that law is deemed 'fair' or not).

[Cornish Cream]

Letter from my MP - via Gauke

Dear My MP,

Thanks you for your letter blah blah blah...

It may be helpful to be clear that the tax arrangements used by your constituent were described by the courts as a wholly artificial tax avoidance scheme. blahdy blahdy blah...

You mention the 4 lead cases that were under consideration when section 58 was exacted. I am sure you will understand I am unable to comment upon the affairs of these taxpayers. However I understand that HMRC are continuing their enquiries and that if those who used the scheme continue to contest HMRC's view that it is inneffective, then it is likelky that one or more of the 1900 users will have their case heard by the First Tier Tribunal in due course.

Blahdy Blah Blahdy Blahdy Blah blah blah blah

end of letter....


I now intend to forward the new letter to my MP and have a further meeting with him...

Its not over till its over :-)

[OnYourBikeGB]

Dear My MP,

Thanks you for your letter blah blah blah...

It may be helpful to be clear that the tax arrangements used by your constituent were described by the courts as a wholly artificial tax avoidance scheme. blahdy blahdy blah...

You mention the 4 lead cases that were under consideration when section 58 was exacted. I am sure you will understand I am unable to comment upon the affairs of these taxpayers. However I understand that HMRC are continuing their enquiries and that if those who used the scheme continue to contest HMRC's view that it is inneffective, then it is likelky that one or more of the 1900 users will have their case heard by the First Tier Tribunal in due course.

Blahdy Blah Blahdy Blahdy Blah blah blah blah

end of letter....


I now intend to forward the new letter to my MP and have a further meeting with him...

Its not over till its over :-)

Yep, 1899 more cases will need to be heard, if you believe the official lies ... I mean figures.

Interesting that we're getting different letters back now. I wonder if he was catching flak because of his / their previous arrogant brush-offs. Also could be because the NTRT campaign is forcing them to raise their game.

[Tynos]

Latest Letter sent to my MP

Latest Letter sent to my MP

[reckless]

Letter gone

Have sent the latest letter to my MP along with the briefing notes. The latter was a very good summary of and rebuttal against the lies perpetrated upon us - well done NTRT. Reading it again, I find it simply incredulous that we are in the position we currently find ourselves in. However I am very much heartened by the weight of evidence in our favour and look forward to sometime in the not too distant future when the forces of good and truth will eventually triumph over those of evil and darkness.

[wertert]

wonder

Thought I'd share this ....

Ever wonder where all these scheme providers come up with their ideas ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxqv5W77cJg]

about 30 secs in....

made me laugh...

w

[lucozade]

Received this too

Dear My MP,

Thanks you for your letter blah blah blah...

It may be helpful to be clear that the tax arrangements used by your constituent were described by the courts as a wholly artificial tax avoidance scheme. blahdy blahdy blah...

You mention the 4 lead cases that were under consideration when section 58 was exacted. I am sure you will understand I am unable to comment upon the affairs of these taxpayers. However I understand that HMRC are continuing their enquiries and that if those who used the scheme continue to contest HMRC's view that it is inneffective, then it is likelky that one or more of the 1900 users will have their case heard by the First Tier Tribunal in due course.

Blahdy Blah Blahdy Blahdy Blah blah blah blah

end of letter....


I now intend to forward the new letter to my MP and have a further meeting with him...

Its not over till its over :-)

I received a copy of this via my MP this morning too. Word for word the same (missing the blah blahs obviously).

I think my MP has been pulled into line as he no longer expresses things in his own words.

Bit strange that I got this one today when I sent him the latest letter yesterday.

[BolshieBastard]

Meanwhile Google pay £6m tax on £4bn profit

You reading this, gauke?

Google pays just £6m UK tax on profits of £3.95bn - Telegraph

The search giant reported a loss after tax of £24.1m, according to documents filed at Companies House, after it booked a £51.4m charge for share awards to its employees.

The disclosure threatens to once again raise scrutiny of Google's tax practices. The company faced criticism last year when it emerged the UK business had paid £935,000 of tax on revenues of £2.39bn.

In the six years to the end of 2010, Google paid just £8m of corporation tax in the UK, but in the 2011 calendar year, that rose to £6.09m.

Worldwide, Google's profit rose 11pc to $2.8bn (£1.8bn) in the most recent quarter to the end of June, as revenues climbed 35pc to $12.21bn. Sales were boosted by rising online advertising revenue, beating Wall Street expectations.

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, claimed last year that the company was obliged to pay the legal minimum in UK tax, implicitly attacking lax British laws.

"We could pay more tax but we would have to do so voluntarily," he said. "There are lots of benefits to [being in Britain].

"It's very good for us, but to go back to shareholders and say 'We looked at 200 countries but felt sorry for those British people so we want to [pay them more]' ... there is probably some law against doing that."

Google's social security costs rose to £22.9m in 2011, up from £13m in 2010.

The company has recently increased its engineering staff in the UK by 40pc, bringing the total to more than 250.

In total, it employs more than 1,300 people in the UK, in London and Manchester. It has also invested in Campus, which offers free space to technology start–ups based in London's East End.

The site, opened by George Osborne, the Chancellor, is being offered free of charge and is the first of its kind Google has opened anywhere in the world.

A Google spokesman said: "We comply with all the tax rules in the UK. We make a big contribution to the UK economy by employing over a thousand people, helping hundreds of thousands of businesses to grow online and investing millions supporting new tech businesses in East London."

The company also claimed its workshops helped online businesses to grow eight times as fast as their non–digital counterparts.