Maximizing by Tax Liability

pacontracting

With all the fuss in the press recently and strong direction from the Prime Minister about tax avoidance, I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice to help me maximize my tax contributions.

I've already decided to stop paying into a pension scheme as they are just vehicles for avoiding tax. I've stopped paying into ISA's and use regular savings accounts but try to get the most interest so I pay the most tax on my savings.

Fortunately I'm already just into the higher tax band so intend to stay there and not use any of my company benefits to shirk my responsibilities to the nation.

As I'm a contractor, I also have discovered that if I go inside IR35, I get to pay personal tax, personal national insurance and Employers National Insurance too - big tax boost for the government (my tax rate is at 56% for all earnings over 38,000 if I go this route!)

Can anyone offer any other advice how I can maximise my tax liability and share my hard earned cash with the not so well off (and don't forget, I can't donate to charities are they are just a form of tax avoidance as they are tax deductible - perhaps if I don't tell HMRC, they won't find out!)?

taxing

pacontracting wrote: »

With all the fuss in the press recently and strong direction from the Prime Minister about tax avoidance, I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice to help me maximize my tax contributions.

I've already decided to stop paying into a pension scheme as they are just vehicles for avoiding tax. I've stopped paying into ISA's and use regular savings accounts but try to get the most interest so I pay the most tax on my savings.

Fortunately I'm already just into the higher tax band so intend to stay there and not use any of my company benefits to shirk my responsibilities to the nation.

As I'm a contractor, I also have discovered that if I go inside IR35, I get to pay personal tax, personal national insurance and Employers National Insurance too - big tax boost for the government (my tax rate is at 56% for all earnings over 38,000 if I go this route!)

Can anyone offer any other advice how I can maximise my tax liability and share my hard earned cash with the not so well off (and don't forget, I can't donate to charities are they are just a form of tax avoidance as they are tax deductible - perhaps if I don't tell HMRC, they won't find out!)?

Remember (suddenly) that your are a non-dom and start using remittances basis because you have been UK resident for more than 7 out of 9 years so you'll need to pay an additional £30,000 for the privilege and on top of the tax on remitted income; oh, and as you have been here more than 12 years, it will now be £50000 a year on top to pay.

Regards.

dtsazza

This might be bending the rules slightly, but to fines owed to HMRC count the same as taxes in this case?

If so, abusing the tax return requirements would result in a much larger amount needing to be paid out each year...

John_Pierpoint

Find a road with lots of speed/safety cameras and make sure you drive through them all in the early hours of the morning at the speed limit + 10% + 3.

Then park the car on a meter, and only put in a fiver, if you try this in central London, with a bit of luck an hour later you should be rewarded with another opportunity to make a useful payment to the cash strapped local authority of about a day's wages on minimum wage.

As it is central London you should also get another similar opportunity because you failed to undrstand the battery of camera's looking at you as you entered the central zone.

00ec25

continuing the penalty theme always submit your return late - only £100 but it all adds up and every little bit does, as you say, help enormously

telboyo

Donating to charity and ticking the gift aid is not tax avoidance the govt just give the tax you have already paid to the charity. When you take advantage of ISA and allowances you are not avoiding tax you are paying according to the rules. If you really want to help the country and the economy spend your money, all of it on stuff made in tis country or on employing people to do work for you- window washing grass cutting decoration etc.
An economy works by the flow of money there is no point in saving it by stuffing it under a matress as no one benefits from it. At the moments the banks aren't lending or borrowing at a reasoonable rate so you should just spend your money.
The worst thing you could do is give it to the Government because they will continue the trend started by the last lot and give all the money to the banks instead of spending it in this country.

John_Pierpoint

Don't forget we are all paying something called "Taxation by inflation" as a result of deficit financing of the economy.
If you won't go out and spend, then the government will print more money and spend it for you.
Trouble is a fair chunk has to go to foreigners as interest on their loans, they are not terribly impressed and dump it and the currency goes down in value and prices of everything imported spirals up in price.

chrismac1

Just sign up your IR35 firm as both an employer and a CIS employer, then fail to submit any online returns. So that's £400 fine in July on payroll, £100 per month for each failure to submit a nil return as a CIS employer, and all sorts added on top for interest, and extra fines for multiple ongoing offences.

Then wait three years or so and you'll "owe" the country about £50k. Which is exactly the position a new client of mine who'd gone through a divorce and other personal problems had got himself into. Needless to say, the concept of actually checking the fines the machine is spewing out to see if there is a real business out there (which there wasn't at the time) doesn't occur to anyone in HMRC, suggest this sort of thing and you might as well be from Mars.

I reckon that is about 200 letters this guy has been sent fining him fines he'll never pay, all with postage paid for by us mugs who pay the taxes. One or two phone calls could have killed off this farce. Think this is unusual? The record for spurious CIS fines alone on Accounting Web site is over £85k.....

POPPYOSCAR

Work 168 hours per week.

ManAtHome

Not really maximising tax liability, but instead of looking for high-interest savings accounts, stick it all in NS&I Easy Access - rates from 0.3% to 0.7% - cheap loan to HMG and you still get to pay tax.

If that makes you feel dirty, just spend the interest on fags, booze, and petrol** (which will help when you're searching for scameras and illegal parking spots).

**don't drink petrol and smoke at the same time - this may dramatically reduce your lifetime tax liability.

[edit] even better, the NS&I Investment Account pays 0.2% to 0.3%