The BBC staff who cheat ...

... the little people of the taxes they refuse to pay, and the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) who have turned a blind eye to this new class of cheats, when decades ago they prevented the carpenter or mason of Manchester or Glasgow from doing exactly the same.

The story of the week is from The Sunday Times written by Dipesh Gadher

TWO BBC managers earning six-figure sums could have avoided paying thousands of pounds in income tax by being kept off the corporation’s books for up to three years.

The managers, who are involved in training other BBC staff, were left off the payroll and instead received more than £100,000 a year through personal service companies (PSCs). 

They were added to the Paye system only this month — days before the BBC’s finance chief was questioned by an influential committee of MPs. 

Workers who are paid through a service company can legally minimise their contributions to the exchequer. Instead of paying income tax at a rate of 40-50p, they can be liable for corporation tax at 20% on profits of up to £300,000. 

The arrangement also means that the BBC does not have to pay National Insurance contributions for the worker. 

Last week the BBC admitted that 467 of its broadcasters — including 148 news presenters — were paid through PSCs. Many are kept off the payroll even though the corporation is their main employer and they are regarded as the “face” of the BBC.  Presenters who have set up companies through which they are believed to channel their earnings include Jeremy Paxman, the host of Newsnight, and Fiona Bruce, the newsreader. Joanna Gosling, a newscaster who is married to Craig Oliver, the prime minister’s head of communications, is paid through a PSC. There is no suggestion that any of the stars have avoided tax. Among the 25,000 freelance contracts the BBC signs each year, 3,000 involve behind-thescenes workers being paid through companies. Margaret Hodge, the Labour chairwoman of the Commons public accounts committee, which examined the practice last week, said the tax arrangements used by the BBC did not seem “morally right”.

The BBC says that, like all other workers paid through PSCs, details of their fees and companies would have been passed to HMRC.

Those people who make their money from outing the tax avoiders are no better than those other wealthy people who decide not to pay their legal share of taxes.

Pot calling the kettle black, scum every one of them, time for a British Tax Spring ...........

........... or time to turn away from the programmes they host !


If it is not allowed for Mr Jones the carpenter of Cardiff or Belfast it shouldn't be allowed for anyone else !