Who operates through an EBT scheme?

Who operates through an EBT scheme?

Author
Discussion

seech

Original Poster:

146 posts

211 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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I’m curious as to whether people partake in these employee benefit trust schemes. I have been pestered by a company I put an enquiry out to so did a lot of research and the risk/reward is just not even slightly worth it. 30 year term loans that ‘shouldn’t ever need to be paid back as the trust operates in your favour’.

“Can I have it in writing that I don’t ever need to pay it back…?”

>“no”.

However… it seems like there are thousands of people just with this one company. So there must be people on here doing it. Searches on here have shown this!

The scare stories that I read are terrible – so has anyone done this and lived to tell the tale?

Seech

essayer

9,011 posts

193 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Whatever gain you get cannot ever outweigh the lifetime of worry that after 1, 5 or 10 years HMRC could declare your scheme retrospectively illegal and come and get you.

The risk vs, what, 5% reward might have been ok for the footballers, but not for me!

Kendrik

287 posts

159 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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I assume you mean some sort of scheme to avoid paying tax on income? If so, don't do it, HMRC are aggressively litigating pretty much every version of these and you will lose. Not worth the trouble.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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A client of mine left me to get involved with such a scheme. He's now back with me because he is under an HMRC tax enquiry which could result in him paying tens of thousands of ££££ in underpaid tax and NI.

At the time he was joining this scheme, I contacted the providers to see what they were doing and how it operated. They were extremely evasive and would not give me any meaningful information except for assurance that the "scheme" was legitimate and that they had no requirement to provide details of the scheme to me or HMRC.

Well, they were obviously lying through their teeth.

Guvernator

13,104 posts

164 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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I know at least 3 people using EBT's who have had nasty letters sent to them from HMRC in the last year asking them to pay back tens of thousands in Tax. Think about it logically for a second, you pay yourself with a "loan" that you never have to pay back, does that sound right to you?

It's tax avoidance evasion plain and simple and we know the Government have a real hard-on for this issue right now.

Wouldn't touch EBT's with a barge pole.

Berz

406 posts

191 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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essayer said:
Whatever gain you get cannot ever outweigh the lifetime of worry that after 1, 5 or 10 years HMRC could declare your scheme retrospectively illegal and come and get you.

The risk vs, what, 5% reward might have been ok for the footballers, but not for me!
You mine like the chap whinging in the press about it yesterday? smile

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/30/extra_bene...

seech

Original Poster:

146 posts

211 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
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That's terrible!

Bloody glad I didn't go down that route. Made little sense. Feel like sending that link to the company in question. All of a sudden it's become vastly immoral encouraging uptake of these schemes.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
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To be honest, that was the way I always felt about these scheme.

Terzo123

4,309 posts

207 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
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The downfall of Rangers FC came about through the misuse of EBT's. HMRC are still persuing the old club over it after failing in their original case.

Believed by many to be some sort of test case, hence HMRC's refusal to back down.