Offshore schemes

[centurian]

Take a look at some of the little fish left wriggling on the HMRC hooks in this forum. HMRC Scheme Enquiries

Every little fish there is having a very unhappy time of it - their lives are on hold, many will be made bankrupt if HMRC succeed (as appears likely in many cases, despite what people say).

Just wandered over to that sub forum. Bloody hell - that's mushroomed - a lot of little fish on the hook.

[Higgs Boson]

Right....

I thought you were joking in your original post Higgs Boson, but now I realise that you weren't. So I'll make it clear.

Providers are interested in obtaining your money - some of them will defend you if HMRC demand back tax from you, many of them won't.

They will tell you whatever is required to make sure that you sign on the bottom line.

It's up you to decide if what they tell you reflects reality.

Take a look at some of the little fish left wriggling on the HMRC hooks in this forum. HMRC Scheme Enquiries

Every little fish there is having a very unhappy time of it - their lives are on hold, many will be made bankrupt if HMRC succeed (as appears likely in many cases, despite what people say).

Because they believed the provider (who, incidentally is NOT on the HMRC hook and is a much bigger and clever fish that has closed down the scheme the little fish were swimming in and has moved onto better hunting grounds...)

Erm ..... I was joking. But thanks for the email anyway.

They came to see us at work and left in a strop because me and a colleague were asking awkward questions.

Like "Why is the fee 13%? What do you do for 13%? Or is it just a figure you know you will get away with as it is roughly half of what we would have paid in tax"

[cojak]

Erm ..... I was joking. But thanks for the email anyway.

They came to see us at work and left in a strop because me and a colleague were asking awkward questions.

Like "Why is the fee 13%? What do you do for 13%? Or is it just a figure you know you will get away with as it is roughly half of what we would have paid in tax"

Oh Gosh! Sorry HB - you were even too subtle for me!!

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Just wandered over to that sub forum. Bloody hell - that's mushroomed - a lot of little fish on the hook.

The recent National Audit Office report on marketed tax avoidance schemes provided an estimate from HMRC of the scale of the contractor ebt/loan type schemes...

Over 70 promoters and 20,000 individuals

So "mushroomed" is the right word.

[Higgs Boson]

I was made to feel like the only police officer that wasn't on the mafia payroll by my colleagues. Somehow I was making the rest of them angry by daring to question their judgment. Just because I could see this was storing up a problem for the future. It was one of the reasons I found this forum as I couldn't believe I was the only freelancer that thought this was more or less just tax evasion.

[BlasterBates]

Anyone on an offshore scheme is almost certainly going to have to pay back the tax. It just isn´t worth it. Up until this year the argument was that contractors on EBT schemes had got away with it. But it looks like they haven´t.

The 13% goes mainly to the scheme provider, so HMRC will tot up more or less the full tax bill plus interest, the other thing is you won´t have many options to reduce the tax bill once it gets to that stage, and they´ll charge National Insurance.

So you get to pay the full tax bill plus a topping.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I was made to feel like the only police officer that wasn't on the mafia payroll by my colleagues. Somehow I was making the rest of them angry by daring to question their judgment. Just because I could see this was storing up a problem for the future. It was one of the reasons I found this forum as I couldn't believe I was the only freelancer that thought this was more or less just tax evasion.

Don't worry HB you're amongst friends here

[Vallah]

Anyone on an offshore scheme is almost certainly going to have to pay back the tax.

Who says? HMRC? Despite what they think, they don't make the law and the weight of law firmly says that loans aren't income. Even the decision in the badly run Rangers case came down against HMRC on this. The current investigations into the old EBT scheme are nothing more than a try on by HMRC.

[stek]

Who says? HMRC? Despite what they think, they don't make the law and the weight of law firmly says that loans aren't income. Even the decision in the badly run Rangers case came down against HMRC on this. The current investigations into the old EBT scheme are nothing more than a try on by HMRC.

Still, it deflects the HMRC from those of us who's tax affairs are within the law....

[AtW]

Who says? HMRC? Despite what they think, they don't make the law

The Govt that runs HMRC makes the law.

They have unlimited funding to pursue very expensive lawsuits.

Ultimately responsibility for taxes is with the person who owes them, not somebody who was helping avoid tax - scheme providers don't risk much, but people who use them expose themself to bankrupcy and stand to lose everything they've gained over many years.

It's just not worth it.