Tuesday, 11 June 2013 07:16
'The UK's largest water company is accused of "ripping off the taxpayer" after revealing it paid no corporation tax and pocketed a £5m credit from the Treasury in a year when it made £550m in profits.
Thames Water, which serves more than a quarter of the population and had a turnover of £1.8bn, saw pre-tax profits slide 9% from £604m the previous year. At the same time bills went up 6.7%, 646m litres of water a day were lost through leaky pipes and hundreds of ratepayers saw their homes flooded with sewage.'
Read more: Thames Water pays no corporation tax on £1.8 billion turnover
======================================
But it has been common knowledge for the last couple of years that whilst the company has reported operating profits, it has made a pre-tax loss meaning it doesn’t need to pay corporation tax.
======================================
Global Radio in the news for tax situation
Global Radio’s tax arrangements have made the headlines as it was highlighted the company hasn’t paid any corporation tax for five years.
The Sunday Times reported on an assessment from the campaigning groupCorporate Watch, which said Global has not paid any UK corporation tax in the last five years, pointing out that interest payments on loans it has taken from its owners through the Channel Islands Stock Exchange have wiped out its taxable profits in the UK.
The Sunday Times reported on an assessment from the campaigning groupCorporate Watch, which said Global has not paid any UK corporation tax in the last five years, pointing out that interest payments on loans it has taken from its owners through the Channel Islands Stock Exchange have wiped out its taxable profits in the UK.
But it has been common knowledge for the last couple of years that whilst the company has reported operating profits, it has made a pre-tax loss meaning it doesn’t need to pay corporation tax.
The report points out that LBC, owned by Global, is currently home to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg’s weekly phone-in show Call Clegg and suggests the news will be embarrassing for Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who in 2011 appointed Sir Charles Allen, Global’s chairman, to lead a review of the party’s structure and finances.
A spokesman for Global Radio said: “Global has invested over £500m in commercial radio in the UK over the past 6 years and played a major part in promoting and rejuvenating the sector. Global is a fully tax-compliant company, as agreed with HMRC.”
Corporate Watch continues: “Global’s UK companies are ultimately owned and controlled by the Jersey-based company Global Radio Group Limited. The UK companies’ accounts show they have borrowed £233 million from their owners at a massive 15% interest rate, with another £252 million at 10.5% from another company only described as a ‘connected party’.”
Global Radio will find out in one month (May 22nd) if their takeover of GMG’s radio division gets Competition Commission approval after almost a year since the deal was done.
=============================================================
This is Nick Clegg on Radio Pay-No-Tax
BRITAIN’S biggest commercial radio company — the operator of the station that hosts Nick Clegg’s show — has not paid corporation tax for five years after sending more than £200m offshore.
This Is Global has paid no UK corporation tax because its operating profits are used for interest payments of up to 15% a year on offshore loans. The UK firm made £33.3m in operating profits last year and paid no corporation tax.
The company, which is controlled from Jersey, says it has used the offshore loans to help rejuvenate the commercial radio sector and its tax arrangements are agreed with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). It insists the interest rates it pays are competitive for high-risk investments.
However, Richard Whittell of Corporate Watch, the not- for-profit research group that investigated This Is Global’s tax bills, said: “This scheme stays legal because the government refuses to close the loophole that allows it
Posts
