Yesterday (19th February 2015) it was revealed that Labour’s biggest non-union donor is the Big Four accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Our partners at AML250 inform us that this was described in a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee as promoting
“tax avoidance on an industrial scale”
A huge £386,605 in the last quarter of 2014 has been donated to the Labour party by PWC, figures have revealed from the Electoral Commission. This has come to light just one week after Ed Miliband had publicly accused Conservative Lord Fink of tax avoidance. The Labour party leader now faces charges of hypocrisy.
“Labour’s hypocrisy is laid bare. They are only too happy to publicly lambast companies but in private are happy to benefit from donations from them.”
States Conservative Vice-Chairman, Bob Neill. While a Labour spokesman insisted that the company had also made similar arrangements with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats previously.
“The expression tax avoidance is so wide that everyone does tax avoidance at some level”
Is the defence claimed by Conservative Lord Fink over the matter. Perhaps Lord Fink has a valid point in light of the current news surrounding the current stir regarding PWC and so called “tax avoidance on an industrial scale” donations to Labour. Could this all be nothing more than pre-election political sparring.
Tax Planning and Tax Avoidance
In our own personal business dealings it is paramount that we understand the differences between tax planning and tax avoidance. Putting in place a long term, sensible tax strategy for yourself and your business is critical. Our team of advisors both with AML250 and ourselves at AccountancyAnywhere are here to help you plan accordingly, where our counsel is considered by DOTAS and the GAAR to be forms of tax planning and not tax avoidance. This is in accordance with current case law and relevant tax legislation, helping you to avoid the above trap of “tax avoidance“.
For more information regarding our tax planning strategies – please contact us.