goinggreek.info
The Agora => UK & World News => Topic started by: Mary on Monday, 09 February, 2015 @ 11:05:57
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Britain's biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax, the BBC has learned.
Panorama has seen thousands of accounts from HSBC's private bank in Switzerland leaked by a whistleblower in 2007.
They show bankers helped clients evade tax and offered deals to help tax dodgers stay ahead of the law.
The documents, stolen in 2007 by a computer expert working for HSBC in Geneva, contain details of more than 100,000 clients from around the world.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31248913
Offshore accounts are not illegal, but many people use them to hide cash from the tax authorities. And while tax avoidance is perfectly legal, deliberately hiding money to evade tax is not.
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Sorry, am I being thick, but why is tax avoidance legal and hiding money not - it's the same thing isn't it..?
I believe all the loop holes need to be closed and therefore everyone pays what they should pay! But then, who am I...?
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Tax Evasion - hiding profits, misreporting holdings, using false accounts - illegal
Tax Avoidance - using losses to offset liability, moving liability to other countries, using charity and eco incentives to reduce liability - legal
The problem (in the UK) is two particular accountancy/auditing companies (PWC and KPMG) who both advise government on policy.
The same companies then advise private clients on the loopholes and avoidance mechanisms those same policies present.
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Tax Evasion - hiding profits, misreporting holdings, using false accounts - illegal
Tax Avoidance - using losses to offset liability, moving liability to other countries, using charity and eco incentives to reduce liability - legal
The problem (in the UK) is two particular accountancy/auditing companies (PWC and KPMG) who both advise government on policy.
The same companies then advise private clients on the loopholes and avoidance mechanisms those same policies present.
Run with the hare and hunt with the hounds !
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So all the stuff we say about Greece applies here too! :rant:
HMRC keen to say they didn't want to prosecute anyone as they just wanted to get the money plus some penalties and save on legal costs. This is obviously a very innovative approach to the law that should be immediately extended not just to benefit fraudsters (obviously) but also muggers and burglars, oh and expenses fiddling MPs. That way our prisons could be emptied overnight saving yet more money, a small percentage of which could be given to victims to persuade them shut up.
I noticed this has been around for 3-4 years so is it a part of what got called the "Lagarde List. That was when Christine Lagarde as then French Finance Minister was drawing the attention of the Samaras coalition to Greece about its citizens who had hidden their dosh. Greece then said they'd lost the USB stick with the list on - I know it's so easy isn't it, I do it all the time.
Tony
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I totally agree with you Tony, a law for the rich and a law for the less well off, :rant: :btd: :bat:
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Tax inspectors failed to prosecute a wealthy tax cheat who did not submit returns or pay any tax for 24 years, documents seen by BBC Panorama show.
HM Revenue and Customs had concluded that Paul Bloomfield, a property investor involved in the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium, was a UK resident and liable for 20 years' tax.
Mr Bloomfield was on a list of HSBC clients with secret Swiss accounts.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31459067
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Britain's highest earners pay more than a quarter of the country’s entire income tax bill, more than when the Coalition came to power.
Nearly 300,000 taxpayers are forecast to contribute the equivalent of £45.9 billion in income tax between them by the end of this year, equivalent to £150,000 each. The amount they have paid has risen from 25 per cent of the nation’s tax bill when Labour came to power to 27.3 per cent this year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/11411790/Britains-highest-earners-pay-a-quarter-of-nations-income-tax.html
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Sorry, am I being thick, but why is tax avoidance legal and hiding money not - it's the same thing isn't it..?
I believe all the loop holes need to be closed and therefore everyone pays what they should pay! But then, who am I...?
Looks like you're not alone, Jean:
Most people think legal tax avoidance is just as wrong as illegal tax evasion, poll suggests
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/most-people-think-legal-tax-avoidance-is-just-as-wrong-as-illegal-tax-evasion-10077934.html