Talent Resource Management

[icemarkuk]

JonC

I feel that pain - that's how I feel right now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I suspect I am about to pay big time for bad research and naievity!

[JLK]

Contact Details for JonC

Hi JonC,

I would like to be part of your distribution list. How do I get pvt message to you? The option to do this was there, I went and registered and the option then disappeared...

<mod note>The administrator has bumped up your privileges so that you can send and receive PMs</mod note>

[Earlyflash1]

I'm in the same boat. I have letters as well, although my exposure is only 6 months in total.

I have some interesting correspondence to discuss as well.

[icemarkuk]

I'm in the same boat. I have letters as well, although my exposure is only 6 months in total.

I have some interesting correspondence to discuss as well.

Good or bad correspondence...?

My exposure is currently 2 years.

[Earlyflash1]

Some official letters that supports the current position (i.e that the loans are not to be paid back). I don't want to say too much on this forum to be honest.

I may also have some additional information tomorrow from someone at TRM who is going to call me to discuss the Redding situation. This is assuming that they do actually call of course.

[Monkey Trousers]

JonC (and others),

Please add one more frustrated, sick and naive con to the list.

I had a letter arrive Thursday and it knocked me sick. Stressed about it all day Friday only to find another when I go home.

Not the most settled of weekends.

I'll PM you with contact details as soon as communication channels suggested by ferret are opened up.

Hopefully by pooling all the information from the various people here we can see where we really stand and a route through this.

Ian

<mod note>You can now send and receive PMs</mod note>

[ASB]

jon

give me a call to discuss my name is leigh and i have been going through a similar issue re these loans (been with talent for 2 and a half years) - my tel no is 07776 294220.

my take on it is that if the HMRC declare the loans as income they are then income and cant be loans therefore only 1 liability to HMRC not a double whammy.

cheers

Unfortunately I don't think it's that simple. Firstly for the sake of argument let us assume that it was a loan (and I'm not entirely sure what else it could possibly have been given you received some money to which you were apparently not contractually entitled. I suppose it might have been a gift).

The revenue view is broadly the following:-

- The beneficial value of the loan is subject to tax (assuming it is not having a commercial rate of interest paid on it).
- The loan, at the point of write off, incurs a tax charge (effectively treating it simply as income)

Of course being offshore the providers will probably be trying to say it's all outside the UK tax system. Very doubtful in my view. There have also been some tightening up of the loan rules - because it was a widespread avoidance mechanism (that probably didn't work anyway). I believe there are now circumstances where tax can be due at the point the loan is made.

One point I always made with loan type schemes was always "but what's to stop them calling the loan". The answer to this was generally "they won't". I was never so sure....

Another point is that is you can prove that the loan was to be written off in certain circumstances then there is a very good argument that it was not a loan.

It does seem as though the original company may well be perfectly within their rights to assign these loans - but they would only be able to do that on broadly the same terms as you held them. However seeing the limited amount of documentation related to them it seems difficult to carry forward a "there is no repayment and we were just going to write them off" clause.

Good luck. I think you'll need it.

[Earlyflash1]

I think what lbaker12345 was getting at is that:

If it's a loan, then HMRC don't see any cash, but we may have to repay it.

If it's not a loan (i.e. income) then we owe HMRC some cash, but Redding/TRM can go wistle for it.

[malvolio]

I think the reality is that whether or not it's a loan, if you get the benefit of it, you owe tax as though it was earned income regardless. The only point of debate is when exactly that tax is due to be paid.

However you're now between a rock and a hard place. You guys need real legal advice PDQ.

[adrian_hipgeek]

I'm not sure how this affect others, but I have some information on TRM and how they operate. Personally I think the text from Colin O'Toole is interesting as it explains how the scheme works.

PLease PM me for details.

If anyone else has anything to add please contact me via PM.

Jon

ER, sorry, new here how do I PM, do I have to have few posts first?

<note>Yes, you do have to have a few posts to PM but I have just upgraded your account so you can use the system now.</note>