tax avoidance = fine, tax evasion = BAD

Needless to say lots of tax avoidance is simply clever evasion that hasn't been unravelled yet.

So to say "I have paid all tax that the law requires me to pay" can be more accurately stated as: "I have paid all tax that my advisors believe the law requires me to pay but HMRC and the Tax Tribunal might have different view"

Without going too far down the political route of this at all, I will simply note that politicians (particular those aspiring to the highest positions of state) need to be fully aware of OPTICS.

It is perfectly possibly to retain a non dom status despite being UK resident and having a UK family life, but it's a life of totting up dates on a calendar (my first stint as a lawyer was spent doing nom dom tax stuff) and it is not a life that the man on the Clapham (or Barnsley) omnibus might readily understand.

And as Lord Ashcroft found out when he was asked to relinquish his non dom status as party treasurer (or whatever he was at the time), it is often politically expedient to pay more tax than one might otherwise legally be required to pay.

(Sorry that's a bit of politics again)

Posted By: CWC, Apr 8, 15:56:57