Another tale of greed, Alan Sugar this time

Germanshepherdsmum

Probably he meets the non-resident requirements apart from being a member of the House of Lords. He might not have known that that changed things. You say ‘he then found out’ so I would say it was a genuine mistake.

Surely it would be his accountant who told him to say that?
Am not impressed tho.

Jens

I feel vindicated, Alan Sugar is a downright nasty piece of work. I absolutely will not watch any program where he's on, makes me want to vomit, sue the little turd, put him in jail for tax evasion. Take his assets, sell them off, strip him of everything. What a blood ducker.

A blood ducker?
Is that Count Duckula?

I think it’s another case of the super rich not wanting to pay their taxes, and being greedy
He would have all the top advisor’s looking his affairs so I doubt it was a genuine mistake

People like AS rely on advice from their accountants. I have no doubt that the accountant is at fault here (and if penalties for late payment were levied the accountant should be reimbursing AS).

I’ve always liked him and so he made a mistake, too bad and he has paid it back anyway. He is super rich through his own efforts and intelligence which is more than you can say for most of the inhabitants of the House of Lords.

Very true nanna. The original East End boy made good.

I like him ... I can't imagine his being very impressed with his accountants if they messed up.

A family member worked for him, he is generous but expects something in return, not quite a wheelie-dealer but switched on to making things work for him.
He lives in the same town as DD2, (and I used to), and he is often seen in a very ordinary restaurant in the High Street with family. You wouldn't know he was even there.
That's my two penn'orth.

He lives in the same town as DD2, (and I used to), and he is often seen in a very ordinary restaurant in the High Street with family. You wouldn't know he was even there.

If he lives in the UK why did he try to claim non residency?

He's been in the House of Lords since 2009, nearly 14 years. It doesn't say much for his business acumen that he only recently discovered the 'rule' about his residency status when he wanted to evade a massive tax bill...

I'm afraid that, despite all the nice things people have said about him, and I don't disbelieve them, the use of the term 'greed' seems entirely appropriate.

I’m sure you realise that one can live in the UK for part of the year without being resident for tax purposes.

As I said above people rely on their advisers. Knowing about this rule, which wasn’t in place in 2009, has nothing to do with business acumen.

If he were greedy he wouldn’t be so generous.

MaizieD

^He lives in the same town as DD2, (and I used to), and he is often seen in a very ordinary restaurant in the High Street with family. You wouldn't know he was even there.^

If he lives in the UK why did he try to claim non residency?

He's been in the House of Lords since 2009, nearly 14 years. It doesn't say much for his business acumen that he only recently discovered the 'rule' about his residency status when he wanted to evade a massive tax bill...

I'm afraid that, despite all the nice things people have said about him, and I don't disbelieve them, the use of the term 'greed' seems entirely appropriate.

You maybe amazed Maizie, but on this, I agree with you.

Knowing about this rule, which wasn’t in place in 2009, has nothing to do with business acumen.

Presumably the 'rule' was introduced by Parliament, the legislative body of which he is a member. Probably well publicised at the time. No excuse for not knowing it.

Jens

I feel vindicated, Alan Sugar is a downright nasty piece of work. I absolutely will not watch any program where he's on, makes me want to vomit, sue the little turd, put him in jail for tax evasion. Take his assets, sell them off, strip him of everything. What a blood ducker.

Well, I would imagine that anyone who uses language like that on a public forum would not be the most pleasant person to be around either.

Can't imagine Alan Sugar sinking to those depths somehow.

My understanding is that Sugar was absent from the UK for a large part of the tax year in question because he was working on the Australian version of The Apprentice. As such he may have become liable for tax in that country.

Anybody has the right to question whether a prolonged absence from the UK affects their liability to UK tax. Any UK national working overseas has the right to do that. Multi-national companies who second UK nationals to overseas projects, structure employee absences and returns to the UK to minimise tax exposure.

I don’t know who was responsible for the oversight regarding the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (the CRAG act). This overrides all of the automatic residency and ties test which normally determine liability to UK tax. Arguably Sugar should have known, especially as his life peerage was awarded not long before the legislation was introduced and would surely have been a hot topic among his fellow peers. OTOH, he pays other people to know these things. A tax accountant dealing with high net worth individuals (HNWI) should have known, unless their client porfolio had never included members of either Houses. Sounds like a rookie error to me. Maybe someone will end up being fired as a result.

Of general interest:

The provisions of CRAG received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010. There were transitional provisions which allowed life peers to withdraw from the House if they did not want the legislation to apply to them. Five did withdraw in order to retain their advantageous tax status. These were:

Lord Laidlaw (Scottish born business man, racing driver - became a tax exile in Monaco)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine_Laidlaw,_Baron_Laidlaw

Lord McAlpine of West Green (construction empire, advisor to Thatcher, another Monaco tax exile)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_McAlpine,_Baron_McAlpine_of_West_Green

Baroness Dunn (Hong Kong born financier (HSBC) who unsuccessfully lobbied to allow the people of Hong to have the right of abode in UK after control ceded to China in 1997.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Dunn,_Baroness_Dunn#External_links

Lord Bagri (Indian born, chair of London Metal Exchange and advisor to Prince’s Trust. In 2012, Bagri sold Hanover Lodge, "the UK’s most expensive home", to Russian billionaire Andrey Goncharenko (Gazprom), for £120 million.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Bagri,_Baron_Bagri

Lord Foster of Thames Bank (Norman Foster architect English born tax exile in Switzerland)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Foster,_Baron_Foster_of_Thames_Bank

www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/architect-norman-foster-gives-up-seat-in-lords-over-taxes-6489403.html

As such he may have become liable for tax in that country

Not sure, I think not, Caravansera but he'd certainly be paying a higher rate over there!

Thank you for that explanation, Caravansera

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m sure you realise that one can live in the UK for part of the year without being resident for tax purposes.

As I said above people rely on their advisers. Knowing about this rule, which wasn’t in place in 2009, has nothing to do with business acumen.

If he were greedy he wouldn’t be so generous.

The 6 month residence rule has been in existence for many years. It is clarified in ICTA 1970. which was introduced to consolidate previous legislation. It was repealed in 1992 but many of the provsions it contained, such as the period for residency/non residency have continued.

The current rules were introduced with the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) which came into effect on 6 April 2013. These are explicit in wanting to know how long anyone claiming to be resident or non resident was in the UK.

If for no other reason Sugar would have known about residency because of the Rolling Stones who decamped to France in 1972 because they didn't want to pay the taxes in the UK at that time. He couldn't avoid knowing about it because it was in all the papers and other media.

FWIW - most countries have similar rules regarding residence. If you are resident in a country you are liable to pay tax on your earnings from that country plus your overseas income. Subject to the various Double Taxation treaties that are in force.

The above doesn't apply to tax havens.

Apparently his non-residency claim was entirely legitimate apart from the statutory provision disentitling (most) members of either House. The accountant’s’ error was seemingly in respect of one fiscal year when he was working abroad, as explained by Caravansera. Not that that will induce any posters who have made thoroughly nasty comments about him without knowing the facts will retract those comments of course.

Apparently his non-residency claim was entirely legitimate apart from the statutory provision disentitling (most) members of either House.

Which, as Caravanseri made clear, was introduced the year after he became a peer and was publicised at the time. There was provision for life peers to then withdraw from the House. But you're trying to tell us that he was completely oblivious of the legislation until he wanted to contest a large tax bill?

Do you not understand that his advisers would deal with his tax affairs? It was their error, not his, and when it was discovered he paid his dues, as he has made clear over the years he makes a point of doing.

It’s down to his accountant, he won’t be doing his own accounting.

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Unacceptable face of capitalism?