rise of the loan schemes again

[vetran]

I'm guessing you have no idea what's actually going on, do you....

no change there then

[DealorNoDeal]

Triple win.

3) Start legal proceedings to get the loan repaid.

Yep, I forgot that some of these scam merchants are trying to get a second bite of the cherry.

[NotAllThere]

It's a double win for the companies selling these scams:

1) take a big % in fees
2) only pay Employers NICs* on minimum wage (the rest of the "salary" is a loan)

*I bet there's hundred of £millions lost in Employers NICs which is never recovered.

Triple win.

3) Start legal proceedings to get the loan repaid.

[DealorNoDeal]

The point of the article is that these aren't highly paid IT contractors, they're nurses, teachers and care workers, working through agencies.

It's a double win for the companies selling these scams:

1) take a big % in fees
2) only pay Employers NICs* on minimum wage (the rest of the "salary" is a loan)

*I bet there's hundred of £millions lost in Employers NICs which is never recovered.

[NotAllThere]

Yeah 40%+ taxpayers evaded income tax (and NiCs), paid 10% to co-conspirators of this tax fraud, and yet they are the victims who don’t owe tulip.

The point of the article is that these aren't highly paid IT contractors, they're nurses, teachers and care workers, working through agencies.

They generally don't pay 40% tax, and were gulled into these schemes (often recommended by their agency, who also insisted that they couldn't be PAYE with the agency or the client) by slick salesmen with reassurances to the marks that it was all safe, no risk, QC approved, registered with HMRC, fully tax compliant and if it did go arse about tit, still nothing to worry about as the con artists would launch a strong legal defence and win. And in no way would they ever sell the debt onto another company (that the con artists run) to try to get the debt repaid as that wouldn't be in the beneficiaries interests.

Sure, some will have gone into these things from cupidity, but a significant number were conned into it, and really didn't know what they were doing. They were relying on tax advisors who were all part of the con.

[malvolio]

Yeah 40%+ taxpayers evaded income tax (and NiCs), paid 10% to co-conspirators of this tax fraud, and yet they are the victims who don’t owe tulip.

I'm guessing you have no idea what's actually going on, do you....

[AtW]

Things won't change until HMRC works out that £2bn is not owed by the users of such schemes but by the people promoting and operating them

Yeah 40%+ taxpayers evaded income tax (and NiCs), paid 10% to co-conspirators of this tax fraud, and yet they are the victims who don’t owe tulip.

[ladymuck]

Monaco is popular this time of year, you can't get much more tax efficient than Sir Phillip Greed.

Better weather too.

[DoctorStrangelove]

^^^Only Little People pay taxes.

[vetran]

RBKC is no longer the crowning glory of tax avoidance? I need to move to a borough that better aligns to my morals

Monaco is popular this time of year, you can't get much more tax efficient than Sir Phillip Greed.

[cojak]

And that's before you get to the scavengers picking up the 'debts' once the sharks have had their fill (often the same bloodsuckers...)

[malvolio]

Things won't change until HMRC works out that £2bn is not owed by the users of such schemes but by the people promoting and operating them, who are failing to correctly assess and report the tax position in the first place. There are good odds that 90% of the people involved as users are totally unaware of how they are being misled.

[ladymuck]

RBKC is no longer the crowning glory of tax avoidance? I need to move to a borough that better aligns to my morals

[NotAllThere]

The author, David Byers, is a bit of an HMRC shill.

HMRC has successfully fought cases against these schemes and chased tax debts from people who use them.

I know the second part is true, but the first?

[Lance]

It’s not just the rich that avoid tax: it’s teachers and nurses too | Money | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)


As it's behind a paywall here are some excerpts....


"On Tuesday the Treasury is set to have its first tax day, when it will unveil dozens of consultations designed to transform the tax system and make it more digital. "

"a rising number of middle-income workers, including NHS nurses recruited during the pandemic, are taking part in tax avoidance schemes and owe the taxman nearly £2 billion."

"pays the worker a small income and a larger amount through a non-refundable loan. The worker is told that the income part is taxable while the loan is not. As a result, they only pay income tax and national insurance on a small part of their earnings."

"Nine out of ten people who use the schemes earn under £50,000 a year and in London there has been a noticeable shift in tax avoidance away from richer boroughs such as Kensington and Chelsea."

One does wonder why they don't make promoting these schemes a criminal offence.


Oh and there is a Chrome/Edge extension that bypasses most paywalls
It's called...... Bypass Paywalls