A flat in Knightsbridge has been sold for an eye watering £136m.  I find myself wondering who is the mystery buyer?

We have a clue. The unnamed purchaser used lawyers in Ukraine. Seems to me we have another stratospherically rich oligarch from somewhere in the former Soviet Union. A kleptocrat and, very probably, a non dom.

The Coalition Government is reviewing the rules on the taxation of non domiciled individuals.

The existing annual charge of £30,000 (which is paid in lieu of being taxed as a UK resident) is planned to go up to £50,000 a year for non doms who have been in the UK for twelve years or more.

Twelve years! And they can still opt out of paying full UK taxes. What madness this is.

They should seek full UK residence with all that that entails or they should skedaddle back to the Ukraine, Egypt, Bahrain or wherever, taking their looted riches with them.

In an act of misguided generosity, the Coalition says the existing £30,000 annual charge will continue for those who have been in the UK for at least seven but less than twelve years.

For the owner of One Hyde Park these charges amount to little more than a restaurant tip. But they give the priceless privilege of living in the UK, a safe haven.

The Coalition says:

The current rules that determine tax residence for individuals are unclear and complex. The Government will consult in June on the introduction of a statutory definition of residence to provide greater certainty for taxpayers.

The reforms are to be implemented from April 2012. (see attachment below: UK Budget 2011. Paragraph 1.133. In search box, just type domicile)

I shall be responding to the Treasury’s consultation, drawing attention, yet again, to the celebrated tax cheat, Michael (Lord) Ashcroft, who hoodwinked the Inland Revenue and the rest of us by making a public declaration promising in 2000 to take up full UK residence to get his peerage while, at the same time, negotiating a second secret deal to retain non dom status. Following my Freedom of Information request, Ashcroft finally came out and disclosed his true non dom tax status in March 2010.

After a decade of lies and evasions from Michael Ashcroft, it seems to me the Revenue and Customs should publish a comprehensive list of non doms every year.

And why not?

Royal Blackburn Hospital

The gleaming new Royal Blackburn Hospital, costing over £100m to build, is one of many PFI projects dotted around the country.

Alas, it comes at a price.

We learn that the NHS East Lancashire Hospitals Trust is locked into a 38 year contract with the Guernsey based HIBC Infrastructure Company which has a 50% stake in the Blackburn PFI.

The NHS is paying extortionate sums in interest.

The Lancashire Telegraph reports:

In six months last year the company made more than £38m profit from its 33 PFI schemes and paid £100,000 in UK tax, equating to less than half of one per cent of the profits.

HIBC - formerly known as the HSBC Infrastructure Company – is raking it in and paying a microscopic amount of tax in the process.

The company pockets the cash while brazenly stating it is subject to UK tax laws and the dividends go, in the main, to UK shareholders.

I suppose Barclays put up a similar defence. The bank paid £113 million in Corporation Tax in 2009 after reporting profits of £11.6 billion.

It is far too easy for the big companies to dodge tax. They can move profits seamlessly around the world to a convenient overseas division. They can acquire companies. Offset profits against “losses”. Their inventive strategies are endless.

But why not require companies to report on the profits made and taxes paid in every country in which they operate? And insist this information is published prominently (page 1) in their reports and on their websites.

Global Financial Integrity wants the G20 to follow this agenda to protect developing countries who are routinely ripped-off by clever multi-nationals. It hopes for progress this year. But don’t hold your breath.

We’ve been hearing tough talk about tax havens for years. But when are we going to see concerted action that will make a real, measurable impact?

In the meantime, the tax dodgers are laughing all the way to the (off-shore) bank.

Attachments:

2011budget_complete.pdf	[UK Budget 2011]	900 Kb
Seoul_Summit_Annex3.pdf	[G20 Seoul Summit]	109 Kb