Couldn’t happen to a nicer couple

[SueEllen]

Apparently they lied -

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-watchdog-dhsc

[cojak]

[cojak]

They're probably grinding their teeth at all the public laundry washing that can't be sat on with 'Cease and Desist' solicitor's letters...

[Paddy]

The PPE Medpro brochure was a bit of a giveaway.

[SueEllen]

They're probably grinding their teeth at all the public laundry washing that can't be sat on with 'Cease and Desist' solicitor's letters...

The Guardian are enjoying themselves.

I know other media outlets/papers were digging around too but only The Guardian got enough to publish the story without threats of being sued.

[cojak]

The Guardian are enjoying themselves.

I know other media outlets/papers were digging around too but only The Guardian got enough to publish the story without threats of being sued.

Well, who knows about threats or no threats? What we do know is that they’re publishing and be damned.

[SueEllen]

Well, who knows about threats or no threats?

The Guardian are very good with their investigative journalism and lawyers hence those who want to sue go directly for the individual journalist.

What we do know is that they’re publishing and be damned.

They ain't damned as other outlets have republished their stories about this.

[SueEllen]

This thread just won't die

Dodgy tax schemes. (Which of you works for The Guardian?)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-tax-avoidance

Three payment programmes operated by a company linked to the husband of the Conservative peer Michelle Mone have been named as tax avoidance schemes by HM Revenue and Customs.

Douglas Barrowman, Mone’s husband since they married on the Isle of Man in November 2020, is the founder and chairman of the Knox Group, a financial services and wealth management firm based on the island, which is widely considered to be a tax haven. HMRC said a Manchester-based company, AML Tax (UK) Ltd, which ran the three newly named tax avoidance schemes was “a part of Doug Barrowman’s Isle of Man-based Knox Group”.

HMRC won legal cases against AML last year under tax laws that require companies to notify HMRC of payment schemes that should be classified as tax avoidance schemes because one of the “main benefits” is to obtain a “tax advantage”.

AML’s director, Arthur Lancaster, told the tax tribunal last year that AML was part of the Knox Group, together with other companies such as Knox House Trust, of which Lancaster was the chairman in 2019.

In March, HMRC also won a separate legal case against AML, which was fined £150,000 after being found not to have provided details to the tax authority required by law. In that case, Lancaster was said by the tribunal to have been “evasive” and displayed “a lack of candour” in some of the evidence he gave.

HMRC also linked AML to Barrowman’s Knox Group at that time, stating in a press release announcing the result of the case: “Doug Barrowman tax avoidance firm fined,” and saying: “A company which has aggressively promoted tax avoidance schemes in the UK for years has been fined £150,000 for failing to provide HMRC with legally required information.

“AML Tax (UK) Limited, directed by Arthur Lancaster and part of Doug Barrowman’s Isle of Man based Knox Group, was fined £150,000 after HMRC brought an upper tribunal case over the firm’s failure to comply with formal information notices as part of a tax investigation.”

Lancaster was also described as “disingenuous” and “increasingly evasive” in relation to some of the evidence he gave in a different legal case by the tax tribunal judge Tracey Bowler, who classed two of the AML schemes as tax avoidance.


A source at HMRC said that its increasing policy of publicly naming such schemes is part of a strategy aimed at deterring people from signing up for them, and ultimately driving the schemes out of business. The UK tax authority’s enforcement actions have attracted intense controversy in recent years because people working in relatively modestly paid jobs, who were paid through such schemes, have been hit with large bills after HMRC succeeded in establishing that insufficient tax had been paid.

In its campaign, “Tax avoidance – don’t get caught out”, HMRC features a nurse and an IT project manager who signed up for schemes, not stated to be those of AML, that offered to maximise their take-home pay, but who were later subjected to very large bills for tax that was avoided.

In relation to the three AML schemes named this week, Mary Aiston, HMRC’s director of counter-avoidance, said: “These schemes are cynically marketed as clever ways to pay less tax. The truth is they rarely work in the way the promoters claim and it is the users that end up with big tax bills. HMRC will continue to use all the powers at our disposal to crack-down on promoters.

“Anyone who thinks they may be involved in a tax avoidance scheme, or have been approached by a scheme promoter, should contact us as soon as possible to get help.

Mone, who was appointed to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015, announced a leave of absence from parliament in December to “clear her name”, according to a spokesperson, after the Guardian reported details relating to a different company linked to her and Barrowman, PPE Medpro. The Guardian reported that bank documents indicated that Mone and her three adult children had received £29m originating from the profits of the company on government PPE contracts. The £29m had been distributed by Barrowman from at least £65m he was paid from PPE Medpro’s profits, according to the documents.

A lawyer for Mone said at the time: “There are a number of reasons why our client cannot comment on these issues and she is under no duty to do so.”

[cojak]

[SueEllen]

Every breath you take And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
We’ll be watching you....