Bernie Ecclestone’s £652M fine – A Lesson for Other Tax Evaders?

Taxpayers have to be trustworthy with the Income as quickly as their affairs are challenged and never name HMRC’s bluff; in any other case, they are going to find yourself within the place that Bernie Ecclestone finds himself, say main tax and advisory agency Blick Rothenberg.

Bernie Ecclestone, the previous boss of Formulation 1 Racing, pleaded responsible to tax evasion earlier than the Excessive Courtroom at this time concerning £400m of belongings which he managed in Singapore. That is regardless of having – in 2015 – beforehand declared that he had no such abroad belongings below his management.

Fiona Fernie, a Tax Disputes and Resolutions Companion with the agency, stated: “By not admitting to the offence when initially challenged by HMRC in 2015, Mr Ecclesone will face considerably extra punitive penalties than might need been the case.”

She added: “If Mr Ecclestone had admitted to the place in 2015, he may solely have confronted a tax penalty of 15% of the tax due (relying on HMRC’s evaluation of his behaviour as much as that time) and would most likely have prevented a felony report. Even when HMRC had thought of Mr Ecclestone’s behaviour to be each fraudulent and intentionally hid, had he come clear in 2015, it ought to have been potential to scale back the penalty to simply over 100% of the tax due.”

Fiona stated: “Nevertheless, by attempting to cover the place in the way in which which he has, Mr Ecclestone turned answerable for a penalty for overseas tax evasion, which is prone to be as excessive as 200% of the tax which was illegally prevented, along with a felony report. The poor behaviour of Mr Ecclestone on this case helps clarify why the general legal responsibility he now faces (ca. £652m of tax, penalties and late cost curiosity) is so excessive.”

She added: “This case represents an ideal instance to taxpayers with ‘problematic tax positions’ of how they need to not deal with one thing.

“It’s at all times higher to be trustworthy and pro-actively look to make sure that an incorrect place is corrected. Such a response to HMRC problem helps make sure that any penalties and so forth. are minimised and the taxpayer’s place is resolved as shortly, cheaply and cleanly as potential.”