Property dodge laid bare
22 Jan 2012
A Land Registry inventory has established that more than £100bn of property located in Central London has been placed offshore in tax havens out of the reach of HMRC. The inventory of 18,700 title deeds details that in some areas in London more than one in 20 properties is owned in an offshore trust. Such schemes enable the rich to avoid the 5% stamp duty charged on properties worth more than £1mn. Richard Murphy, at the Tax Justice Network, said: “The law needs to change so any such company must be registered here and must disclose who its beneficial owners are. People with lower-value properties are penalised when they move whereas those with higher-value properties avoid the tax they owe.” The Observer profiles tax havens in Switzerland.
The Sunday Times The Sunday Times The Observer, Page: 46-47
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