More Tesco Tax Avoidance

Since tax avoidance is perfectly legal, and every sensible person does it wherever possible, just what is your point?

As does every large company......

"Norman Wells" wrote

I think the point must be that Tesco is an excellent company, well-run in an efficient manner... Well done, Tesco!

The point is that Tesco has become and easy target. Used to be McDonalds, then various others, now it is Tesco. Next year it will be somebody else.

Indeed. The real issue here is why it's financially advantageous for Tesco to put up with all the hassle involved in setting up a Swiss company to handle their accounting, rather than doing it here. Our loss is Switzerland's gain; I bet no-one in Zug is complaining.

If anyone is the guilty party here, it's the UK government for making it worthwhile for companies to arrange to pay their taxes elsewhere rather than contributing to the British exchequer.

(The other question, of course, is how any journalist can think it's sensible to describe Switzerland, of all countries, as "offshore").

Mark

Because it is - off our shore. The fact that it is surrounded by other countries does not stop this being so!

tim

"tims next home" wrote in news:6actq4F375ialU1 @mid.individual.net:

"Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off". :-)

I'm terribly sorry - I thought that the article may have been of interest to people in seeing how large companies organise their finances.

It is also relevant to uk.legal because of the legal action Tesco are taking against the Guardian.

Now f*ck off.

Perhaps the journalist was more familiar with the OED definition of offshore than you are:

1. In or to another country; in a territory outside one's own country. Used esp. with reference to economic or financial activities undertaken abroad in order to take advantage of tax benefits, lower costs, or less stringent regulations.

Tax is evil but a necessary evil.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of good Government to always reduce the burden of taxation to an absolute minimum.

Currently, we don't have good Government we have one that pushes the self-destruct button.

It's a wonder some of these companies even stay here.

Moment of the week - Gordon Brown going cap in hand (crapping himself) to the North Sea Oil Industry begging them to up production.

Now put aside that North Sea Oil is a very small part of World oil production, put aside that North Sea oil isn't even used to produce fuel but don't put aside that this is the same wicked oil industry that s*it head Brown cynically and opportunistically clobbered (daylight robbed) with a windfall tax just two years ago.

They should have told him to f**k off. The policies of middle class lefty knobs like Brown inevitably mean we end up reaping what we sow in the end.

The (only) joy of Brown is that he ends up doing it soon enough to still be around to take all the blame.

If Blair was the Teflon kid then surely Brown must be the Araldite King.

In message , judith writes

But you didn't actually add anything other than tell us what someone else was saying. Did you have a view about it?

May be but what is your opinion about it?

That doesn't add much of value in either group.

Wow Man pretending to be a women reading the guardian

How long before the operation ?

Tesco is not a solely UK company.

Tax avoidance is perfectly legal, and I have been doing it for years - e.g I avoid tobacco duty by not smoking.

Any company that has numerous foreign shareholders (as Tesco does) and substantial foreign assets (as Tesco does), would be mad to expose all their profits to HMRC in the UK and probably end up getting taxed twice.

There are two main reasons why big companies are fleeing abroad: -

1. Heavy corporate tax (including stealth taxes) and compliance load.
2. Totally unreasonable behaviour by HMRC - IR35 and Arctic Systems being just two disgraceful examples in my own field (IT).

Both of these are politically inspired - you can work out the rest.

Oh yes and the St. John Gumby "I think all foreigners living abroad should be.... taxed"

Hit a nerve, did I?

On Sat, 31 May 2008 at 17:39:27, R. Mark Clayton wrote in uk.legal :

Of course, for some businesses moving abroad is not practical - perishable goods *have* to be where the customers are.

If essential services try to move abroad, that just invites nationalization - and that rarely benefits anyone.

Perhaps companies taxed off shore should only be allowed to employ people full time on mugh higher wages than minimum wage. Just to ensure they're not using the benefits system to support their short hours and low paid workers.

Your irony detector is malfunctioning.

Mark

If you think women don't swear - you need to get out more.

Possibly. That doesn't make it relevant to uk.legal, but then neither is quite a lot posted here.

Wrong.

It is a completely separate issue, and has no more relevance to uk.legal than telling us you happen to shop in Tesco would.

Why should he "fuckj off" for asking a perfectly reasonable question (which you haven't answered).