Who knew that Boots is now Swiss-owned and probably avoiding around £100m pa UK tax?

donstermonster

Doc_N wrote: »

Fascinating article in the Guardian today about Boots:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/11/boots-switzerland-uk

Do we really want to be buying anything at all from a company like Boots that now chooses not to contribute its fair share towards UK taxes? Whatever Boots decides not to pay has to come from the rest of us, who have no choice.

In June 2008, after more than a century and a half in the UK, Boots moved out of the country to Switzerland. The British household name had been acquired, along with its parent company, Alliance Boots, in Europe's largest private equity deal in 2007, thanks to £9.3bn of borrowing from banks and other investors. Private equity's gain turned out to be the UK revenue's loss.

Ten years ago the Boots group generally paid about one-third of its profits in UK tax. The Revenue could expect to see a tax charge around the £120-£150m mark each year, with over £100m of that coming from Boots the Chemist.

Then came the move to the low-tax Swiss canton of Zug. Alliance Boots GmbH is now registered at Zug's 94 Baarerstrasse, an address that is home to a post office. After huge interest payments, its worldwide profits last year were £475m. It is hard to see which parts of the company are now making what, but the cashflow statement for the year to March 2010 shows that just £14m was recorded as the tax charge on those profits – that is, just 3% of profits. John Ralfe, the former head of corporate finance at Boots, told us he calculated that, "the UK has lost about £100m a year in tax as a result".

Well i hate to be so honest but i didnt realize i was the only person in Britain who, given half the chance to avoid paying so much tax as i currently do would do so?

Maybe the problem is that the UK costs so much because we are so inefficient that we are unattractive to companies being resident here

Dont blame the companies who feel compelled to move away because tax is such a burden here

I am glad they still keep shops here and employ people here as opposed to upping sticks and taking everything away.

So i guess my questions is this:

If YOU PERSONALLY could pay less tax would you?

I just hope we can make the UK more attractive to companies otherwise we have a real problem

Hey this is money saving after all, well done Boots ! :T

donstermonster

Doc_N wrote: »

What a naive and gullible person you are.

It's a good job for your sake that all companies don't behave like Boots, Vodafone, Arcadia and co. If they did, you'd be paying a tax rate of 75%+ instead of 40% to cover the fact that they pay so little.

Hope you're happy to pay extra fuel tax as well - or are you one of the whingers about that tax as well? You can't have it all ways - your tax is high because companies like Boots keep theirs artificially low by taking all the benefits of trading in the UK and then shifting the profits out instead of paying tax here.

If you could calm down and take in what you have read you will see i am not whinging about paying high taxes YOU ARE .

I am explaining why companies migrate away from the UK , due to the crazy tax situation here

Why do you think fuel is so cheap in the USA and sooo expensive here , mmm, well its not because of Boots

Anyhow are you seriously trying to tell me you have never bought, clothes or alcohol or cigarettes when you have been on holiday, if you have you are defrauding the UK out of tax , you naughty naughty person:T

Doc_N

donstermonster wrote: »

If you could calm down and take in what you have read you will see i am not whinging about paying high taxes YOU ARE .

I am explaining why companies migrate away from the UK , due to the crazy tax situation here

Why do you think fuel is so cheap in the USA and sooo expensive here , mmm, well its not because of Boots

Anyhow are you seriously trying to tell me you have never bought, clothes or alcohol or cigarettes when you have been on holiday, if you have you are defrauding the UK out of tax , you naughty naughty person:T

I do apologise. I rather thought that comments such as these of yours read rather like someone whingeing about high taxes:

"Well i hate to be so honest but i didnt realize i was the only person in Britain who, given half the chance to avoid paying so much tax as i currently do would do so?"

"Dont blame the companies who feel compelled to move away because tax is such a burden here"


Still don't understand why you feel so drawn to supporting tax avoidance by the company that owns Boots - KKR. It's a US private equity company that works very much in the same general area as the institutions that recently managed to wreck the financial system of most of the world economies.

It's not Boots of Nottingham we're talking about here - it's an American private equity company.

I don't expect you to understand what all that means, but there are some more financially aware than you who know full well what it means, and why it's very bad for the UK economy - and one of the causes of the recent cuts and tax increases.

cdam

"I am explaining why companies migrate away from the UK , due to the crazy tax situation here

Why do you think fuel is so cheap in the USA and sooo expensive here , mmm, well its not because of Boots" (Donstermonster)

Yeah, lay off, lets cut tax for these big companies to 5%, and raise it for the workers, and even more for the unemployed, and what is it with stay at home mum's, and pensioners, what use are they to society now, and what about disabled people as well, and not all of the kids at school will need an education, so another saving there then....And as for those, so called sick clogging up hospital beds. And why should people without kids have to pay taxes that go toward education, and I've never been sick, so why should I pay tax toward the NHS.

Yeah, like the look of the Britain we could have if we don't challenge the leeches....Of course, some people are now so scared of what might happen to them if they say anything that they convince themselves that the corporates are the good guys....

donstermonster

cdam wrote: »

"I am explaining why companies migrate away from the UK , due to the crazy tax situation here

Why do you think fuel is so cheap in the USA and sooo expensive here , mmm, well its not because of Boots" (Donstermonster)

Yeah, lay off, lets cut tax for these big companies to 5%, and raise it for the workers, and even more for the unemployed, and what is it with stay at home mum's, and pensioners, what use are they to society now, and what about disabled people as well, and not all of the kids at school will need an education, so another saving there then....And as for those, so called sick clogging up hospital beds. And why should people without kids have to pay taxes that go toward education, and I've never been sick, so why should I pay tax toward the NHS.

Yeah, like the look of the Britain we could have if we don't challenge the leeches....Of course, some people are now so scared of what might happen to them if they say anything that they convince themselves that the corporates are the good guys....

How exactly are you "Challenging the Leeches" by posting a non sensical reply, Not sure i mentioned any of the above but you are welcome to put your opinion across (badly)


And neither of you have answered (although you have taken the time to quote other parts of my post) my quetsion about trying to pay as little tax as you possibly could?

Doc_N

donstermonster wrote: »

How exactly are you "Challenging the Leeches" by posting a non sensical reply, Not sure i mentioned any of the above but you are welcome to put your opinion across (badly)


And neither of you have answered (although you have taken the time to quote other parts of my post) my quetsion about trying to pay as little tax as you possibly could?

I think your problem with cdam's post is that you missed the entire point because you clearly don't understand irony. :rotfl:

pstones578

Doc_N wrote: »

Fascinating article in the Guardian today about Boots:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/11/boots-switzerland-uk

Do we really want to be buying anything at all from a company like Boots that now chooses not to contribute its fair share towards UK taxes? Whatever Boots decides not to pay has to come from the rest of us, who have no choice.

In June 2008, after more than a century and a half in the UK, Boots moved out of the country to Switzerland. The British household name had been acquired, along with its parent company, Alliance Boots, in Europe's largest private equity deal in 2007, thanks to £9.3bn of borrowing from banks and other investors. Private equity's gain turned out to be the UK revenue's loss.

Ten years ago the Boots group generally paid about one-third of its profits in UK tax. The Revenue could expect to see a tax charge around the £120-£150m mark each year, with over £100m of that coming from Boots the Chemist.

Then came the move to the low-tax Swiss canton of Zug. Alliance Boots GmbH is now registered at Zug's 94 Baarerstrasse, an address that is home to a post office. After huge interest payments, its worldwide profits last year were £475m. It is hard to see which parts of the company are now making what, but the cashflow statement for the year to March 2010 shows that just £14m was recorded as the tax charge on those profits – that is, just 3% of profits. John Ralfe, the former head of corporate finance at Boots, told us he calculated that, "the UK has lost about £100m a year in tax as a result".

Where's the offer?

Doc_N

pstones578 wrote: »

Where's the offer?

The offer's in an awareness of the way Boots now operates as a major tax avoider, and that it's now owned by KKR, a US private equity company, operating in much the same area as the banks that crippled world economies.

Boots likes to keep that side of things quiet - they even try to conceal it from their staff.

lufoo7

i'm not completely sure I understand all this but let me just ask this, are we not all guilty of buying from the likes of tesco direct, play.com etc because they are abit cheaper? and aren't they cheaper because they are based in the channel islands paying less tax?

Doc_N

lufoo7 wrote: »

i'm not completely sure I understand all this but let me just ask this, are we not all guilty of buying from the likes of tesco direct, play.com etc because they are abit cheaper? and aren't they cheaper because they are based in the channel islands paying less tax?

A good point, but the difference with Play is that it's a genuine Channel Islands company, based there and paying CI taxes. Some UK companies also use the Channel Islands to route some low value (under £18) items such as DVD/CDs, but they still pay UK Corporation tax on their profits.

Boots, however, trades normally in the UK, likes to pretend that it's a perfectly normal UK company, paying full UK taxes, but actually isn't.

It's owned by KKR, a US private equity company, operating in much the same area as the banks that crippled world economies. Because KKR moved Boots to Switzerland, it now pays only around 10% of the UK Corporation Tax it used to pay.

If you're happy with that, fine. If you think that companies wanting all the benefits of trading in the UK should be prepared to pay UK taxes normally, you might be less than happy with their approach.

Government cuts and tax increases have been brought about by the banking collapse caused by the banks and companies very similar to KKR, and their cynical exploitation of tax loopholes just causes the rest of us to have to pay even more tax than we do already.