Super-rich dodging stamp duty

chewmylegoff

The saving in council tax alone could be very attractive.

there is no saving on council tax - council tax is paid by the occupant not the owner. non-payment remains a criminal offence, and putting the ownership of your house into an offshore company and then not paying council tax whilst hoping that the council won't be able to find out who you are is a pretty high risk strategy, especially if the house has previously been in your name, you have previously paid council tax at that address, and you are on the electoral roll!

kabayiri

chewmylegoff wrote: »

there is no saving on council tax - council tax is paid by the occupant not the owner. non-payment remains a criminal offence, and putting the ownership of your house into an offshore company and then not paying council tax whilst hoping that the council won't be able to find out who you are is a pretty high risk strategy, especially if the house has previously been in your name, you have previously paid council tax at that address, and you are on the electoral roll!

:rotfl:

Okay, so I suspect there are a few flaws in my plan. Ahh well

By extension of your explanation of occupant who pays the CT, does this mean that the 50 odd Hyde one properties not paying the tax are doing so because they are unoccupied ?

What are they? Some kind of rich holiday home?

chewmylegoff

kabayiri wrote: »

:rotfl:

Okay, so I suspect there are a few flaws in my plan. Ahh well

By extension of your explanation of occupant who pays the CT, does this mean that the 50 odd Hyde one properties not paying the tax are doing so because they are unoccupied ?

What are they? Some kind of rich holiday home?

well they're not paying tax because no-one has registered to pay tax there. they may well be unoccupied, as they may have been purchased purely as speculative investments, although the owner would still be liable for CT if no-one was living there at all.

it's more difficult to track down who is living there if they property has always been owned by an offshore company since it was built, the occupants haven't put themselves on the electoral roll, all the utilities are in the name of the offshore company etc.

i am not an expert on criminal law, and what the council can and can't do, although it seems to me that they might be able to apply for search warrants to force entry and identify the occupants, or turn up with baliffs and attempt to remove goods to the value of the unpaid tax or something like that.

the council won't do that because the owners are loaded and probably own a couple of councillors each, but obviously anyone normal tried it they would get nailed in about 12 seconds....

kabayiri

It seems such a risky approach for the owners to adopt, and generate bad feelings with the council, all for the sake of a couple of grand council tax every year.

I suspect the building management fees are much higher than that.

chewmylegoff

kabayiri wrote: »

It seems such a risky approach for the owners to adopt, and generate bad feelings with the council, all for the sake of a couple of grand council tax every year.

I suspect the building management fees are much higher than that.

i expect some of it is because overseas billionaire Z hasn't heard of council tax.

i remember reading something about the penthouse flat to the effect that its service charge was more than £100,000 per year.

lostinrates

kabayiri wrote: »

What are they? Some kind of rich holiday home?

I'm guessing a percentage of them are just that. Its not uncommon in that area for people to have properties worth tens of millions that are used for shortish shopping an social trips. It would be cheaper by far to use hotels I guess. Its another world But I think the fair system would be for holidy/second homes to pay a full rate of council tax, not more and not less.

paulmapp8306

MrRee wrote: »

Simple jealousy ....

If those moaning want the chance to pay £100,000 in Stamp Duty ... be my guest, but - before you do - you will need the intelligence to make the £Millions in the first place - this would involve getting off ones backside and doing something other than moaning on a BBS.

Your pathetic.

I, for instance, have got off my arese for the last 23 years protecting YOUR !!! all over the world and would love the chance to even pay £3k in stamp duty.

Your a condesending wa**er, and a fair example of why this country is in the sh*t its in.

Graham_Devon

vivatifosi wrote: »

They are all band H Graham. If you go to the VOA website's "find your council tax band" section, then put in the postcode (SW1X 7LJ) it will show them all as H. Which makes you wonder why the highest band in the country pays £1,375.24 in the wealthiest part of London. It goes to show how skewed the whole system has become.

I didn't know what band they were, but that was the point I was making. A Band C is more expensive than those!

Is council tax in London generally mega cheap? (in comparison to the rest of the country).

chewmylegoff

No. Council tax in a few councils in London is very cheap - Wandsworth is the lowest in the country I think, and Westminster is also very low because of the amount of money they get from (i) govt grants and (ii) parking charges (which raise about twice what they get from council tax IIRC).

Elsewhere in London, council tax is as high as it is anywhere else.

Hoopie1

The UK tax system needs simplifying so that things like this are no longer possible. I heard the Child Prime Minister saying how they were going to take on 1,500 extra tax inspectors. Wouldn't it be better to slim down the ridiculously complicated mess that is our tax regulations, which would make life easier for everyone and hopefully reduce the amount of things like this, where those that can afford it get to sidestep certain taxes?