BBC's complicity in tax avoidance

Off-payroll arrangements in the public sector - Public Accounts Committee. BBC's off-pay roll arrange ments in the public sector. The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, today said: "Avoiding tax and national insurance when paying public sector staff is almost always staggeringly inappropriate.

The public sector must maintain the highest standards of propriety in its employment practices if it is to show leadership in the fight against tax avoidance. It must avoid the practice of using off-payroll arrangements for staff who should be on the payroll - a practice which generates suspicions of complicity in tax avoidance and which fails to meet the standards expected of public officials. Those whose income is derived from monies raised through taxation have a particular obligation to make sure that they do not use tax avoidance schemes. We welcome the prompt response by the Treasury following revelations about the appointment of the Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company through a personal service company.

It told us that it intends to review these arrangements. Image: PA. How Jeremy Paxman blew lid on BBC's complicity in tax avoidance pay deals. BBC 'complicit' in tax avoidance for household names, say MPs. The BBC, tax and a question of morality. By Daily Mail Comment PUBLISHED: 21:55 GMT, 4 October 2012 | UPDATED: 23:40 GMT, 5 October 2012 Questionable: MPs say the BBC's payroll arrangements 'generate suspicions of complicity in tax avoidance' For the BBC, today’s report by Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee makes devastating reading.

MPs have discovered that the publicly-funded Corporation – which is first to take the moral high ground over any suggestion of tax avoidance by big business or celebrities – hands out 25,000 contracts a year to employees who do not pay tax at source. Of these, 4,500 staff, including so-called top ‘talent’ on six-figure salaries, are paid via private companies – potentially allowing them to dramatically limit their tax liabilities. [video] BBC contacted over tax arrangements. 5 October 2012Last updated at 08:10 ET Public Accounts Committee chairman Margaret Hodge: "It's wrong that individuals working in the public service aren't paying their fair share of tax" The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has written to the new BBC director general over the tax arrangements of thousands of members of staff at the corporation.

A Public Accounts Committee report says too many make their own arrangements to pay tax and national insurance, which could allow them to contribute less. The report found that in total some 2,400 civil servants were subject to such "off payroll" arrangements. BBC: Public sector 'getting away with it' on off-payroll arrangements. A Public Accounts Committee report into off payroll employment practices concludes that too many public sector staff, including many at the BBC, have been paid using off-payroll arrangements for too long.

The report says that such practices for permanent employees generates suspicions of tax avoidance, places value for money at risk, and fails to meet the standards expected of public officials. John Whiting, tax policy director at the Charted Institute of Taxation explained that the report is really targeting people in "disguise employment" - that's people who are "really an employee" but who are operating through a company as a freelancer.

The report points out that the anti-avoidance provision in place to tackle this, that's IR35, is "not easy to apply" and people have been "getting away with it". He added that "simplification is needed" as well as a "general tightening up" of the current system. U.K. Parliament Report: BBC Pay Scheme Helps On-Air Stars Avoid Taxes. LONDON - A report from a U.K. parliamentary committee says that the BBC is helping thousands of employees, including about 1,500 on-air hosts, news readers, actors and other talent, avoid tax payments, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The Public Accounts Committee suggests that the public broadcaster is “complicit” in tax avoidance as it allows people to be paid as companies rather than individuals, it said. The arrangement allows both the BBC and the employees to pay lower taxes. The BBC now acknowledges that about 1,500 on-air contributors, actors and others are paid under such freelance-style contracts, up from its previous estimate of 300, the Telegraph said. It highlighted that this figure includes the company's "best-known television and radio stars," but the report didn't mention specific names. Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman for one recently said that the BBC asked him to set up a company or risk losing his role.