Tax avoidance - or not?
Interesting story today about the boss of Richer Sounds - the hi-fi company.Richer Sounds founder hands over control of hi-fi and TV firm to staff
Chain joins John Lewis in employee ownership as staff get £1,000 for each year they have worked
The founder of Richer Sounds is handing control of the hi-fi and TV retail chain to staff, in a move that will also give employees large cash bonuses.
Julian Richer will announce to staff on Tuesday that he has transferred 60% of his shares into a John Lewis-style trust.
The company will pay Richer an initial £9.2m for the stake but the businessman is giving £3.5m of that back to staff, who will receive £1,000 for every year they have worked for the retailer.
Now because the shares are being sold to an Employee ownership trust there is no CGT liability - so Mr Richer saves himself the 20% of the £9 million that would have gone to the Treasury in a normal sale.
Mr Richer isn't retiring - he is funding a new a new independent tax watchdog that will pore over the opaque finances of multinational companies and individuals to expose tax avoidance (!).
“I’m outraged by the status quo,” said Richer. “We pay our taxes (?) but these people are just laughing at us. You can’t move these days for stories about people and companies trying to find ever more ingenious ways to avoid paying their tax bill....
Hmm....data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Richer Sounds boss launches crusade to expose tax avoiders
Richer Sounds founder hands over control of hi-fi and TV firm to staff
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