HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has won a legal battle against a £290 million tax avoidance scheme sold to 450 individuals, including former Radio One DJ Chris Moyles and fund managers.
The First Tier Tribunal found against the tax avoidance scheme which involved celebrities, fund managers and other high earners claiming that they were second-hand car dealers in their spare time.
The scheme allowed its members to say they incurred large fees working in the car trade, which could then be set against their tax bill.
Moyles (pictured) took to Twitter to admit he had been naïve in joining the scheme.
He wrote: ‘Upon advice, I signed up to a scheme which I was assured was legal. Despite this, my knowledge of the dealings of the scheme were naïve.
‘I'm not a tax expert and acted on advice I was given. This was a mistake and I accept the ruling without reservation.
This is HMRC's fourth consecutive win against the scheme’s promoters NT Advisors.
The tribunal said that a realistic view of the facts showed that the appellants’ aim was to make it appear that they had incurred vast fees in order to borrow modest amounts of money they did not need in order to invest it in a trade they had no desire to pursue.
The tribunal heard that Moyles had wanted to achieve £1 million in tax losses. which involved celebrities, fund managers and other high earners claiming that they were second-hand car dealers in their spare time.
I agree that Moyles is not a tax expert but what part of not actually being a car dealer made him suspect that he was lying and perhaps trying to dodge tax then?
This sort of thing brings financial advice in to disrepute and I would go as far to say that it's not financial advice at all but accountants playing at financial advice to the detriment of all of us and now also to their clients.
This is also part of trying to tax people half of their earnings because you're jealous of their success. For those who advocate such a level of taxation think for a moment how you would feel if half your hard work was stolen by the government and then wasted for all to see in the latest government computer system fiasco. People are happy to pay a fair tax but any person in their right mind would try to avoid paying excessive and punitive taxes and we should stop looking at successful people with green envious eyes and thinking of ways we can get back at them for having the audacity to work damn hard and become more successful than us; because lets be honest it's nothing more than envy and all the rubbish about spreading the load can be dealt with in a single sentence. If you think paying £5000 worth of tax is greater than a wealthy person paying £50,000 on the same level of tax then it's back to school for you sonny.
This just creates money for big accountancy firms who have no interest in society, if we could trust our elected representatives of all colours not to spend our hard earned money like it's going out of fashion then we wouldn't be so upset about having to pay tax in the first place.
Everyone should pay the same rate of tax but the level that you start to pay tax should be closer to £20,000. This would put a large number of the national accountancy firms out of business and bring in more money to the treasury as it would be pointless to keep your money offshore.
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