Tax ranting #8 - losses
Dec. 5th, 2012 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
king_pellinorOh, lord, they're at it again. This really is scraping the barrel.
"Tui Travel admits it did not pay any corporation tax": http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20590961
What devilry is this? No tax paid, on profits of £390m? Surely some immoral manipulation of arcane accounting rules!
Er, no. They lost a lot of money one year due to the ash cloud, then spent another load on restructuring and are only just starting to recoup the money they spent on it. Net position: they've made no money for a few years, so there's nothing to tax. For Pete's sake, this is a complete non-story.
And where did that "admits" in the headline come from, anyway? Surely the reporter found out because it was in freely-available public information, and the company saw nothing wrong in being in a perfectly ordinary position! I seriously doubt it took any pressure.
What's next?
OK, OK, I admit it, I paid no corporation tax last year, in fact in my working career I have never paid any! Like TUI, I use a really complex accounting dodge called "not making any profits chargeable to corporation tax", although in my case I take it a step further than that and ensure that I never will make any by carefully structuring myself to, in the technical jargon, "not be a company". I maintain that I have done nothing wrong, and have complied with all relevant tax laws.
Call me immoral if you like - I am unrepentant and care not for boycott.
"Tui Travel admits it did not pay any corporation tax": http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20590961
What devilry is this? No tax paid, on profits of £390m? Surely some immoral manipulation of arcane accounting rules!
Er, no. They lost a lot of money one year due to the ash cloud, then spent another load on restructuring and are only just starting to recoup the money they spent on it. Net position: they've made no money for a few years, so there's nothing to tax. For Pete's sake, this is a complete non-story.
And where did that "admits" in the headline come from, anyway? Surely the reporter found out because it was in freely-available public information, and the company saw nothing wrong in being in a perfectly ordinary position! I seriously doubt it took any pressure.
What's next?
OK, OK, I admit it, I paid no corporation tax last year, in fact in my working career I have never paid any! Like TUI, I use a really complex accounting dodge called "not making any profits chargeable to corporation tax", although in my case I take it a step further than that and ensure that I never will make any by carefully structuring myself to, in the technical jargon, "not be a company". I maintain that I have done nothing wrong, and have complied with all relevant tax laws.
Call me immoral if you like - I am unrepentant and care not for boycott.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 06:02 pm (UTC)(Though I'm not without sin myself. Not only have I not paid corporation tax using the loopholes mentioned, but for somewhere around the first 18 years of my life or so, I did not pay any income tax either! Radical accounting dodge, or what?! I am sure you will be suitably horrified.)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 06:05 pm (UTC)