Finding £84 Million down the back of the sofa.

[vetran]

Matalan billionaire takes on the taxman in fight over unpaid £84MILLION bill | Daily Mail Online

Matalan billionaire takes on the taxman in fight over unpaid £84MILLION bill - claiming he was not resident in the UK at the time of disputed 15-year-old share sale
John Hargreaves says he was not a resident in the UK when he sold shares
A luxury hotel suite in Monaco, the billionaire says, was home to him and his partner when the shares sale netted him £200m in May 2001
But HMRC say he was 'resident' in Britain when the deal went through

A luxury hotel suite in Monaco, he says, was home to him and his partner when the shares sale netted him £200m in May 2001.

But HM Revenue and Customs insist he was 'ordinarily resident' in Britain when the deal went through.

He kept the family home, in Barton, near Preston, and flew back to Britain more than 40 times in the 2000/01 tax year, says HMRC.

He was then still serving as Matalan's executive chairman and most of his trips were to the company's head office in Preston.

But Mr Hargreaves is adamant that his move to Monaco in March 2000 represented 'a distinct break in his pattern of life'.

took them a while.

[sal]

It was not until 2007 that HMRC dropped the tax bombshell, demanding £84m in capital gains and income tax. Mr Hargreaves, 72, has been fighting the bill ever since and his case is set to be heard soon by a specialist tax judge.

potential £84m tax income obviously doesn't warrant the use of specialist tax judge right off the bat...

[vetran]

potential £84m tax income obviously doesn't warrant the use of specialist tax judge right off the bat...

I suppose as he left the country in the March a year before he made the sum from selling his shares in the business he built up personally in Britain the fact he still did significant work in the UK for them and owned a family home here they rather thought he would just pay up.

Maybe its me but it walks like a duck, quacks like a Duck and needs to be stuffed like a Duck.

Just think one prosecution will raise more than IR35!