THREE schemes linked to Michelle Mone’s husband have been named as “tax avoidance” by the HMRC.
In a press release issued on Friday, the UK Government named three schemes connected to AML Tax (UK), a firm which it has said is a “part of Doug Barrowman’s Isle of Man based Knox Group”.
Barrowman is married to the Tory peer Michelle Mone, who has taken a leave of absence from the Lords amid allegations that she is linked to PPE Medpro – a company the UK Government is suing for more than £130 million amid a row over the supply of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
HMRC said the three Manchester-based schemes linked to AML Tax (Annuity Arrangements, AML Prefunded EBT, and AML Split Contract) all “make use of complex company structures and directors’ loan accounts to extract profit, providing directors with income where Corporation Tax, Income Tax and National Insurance contributions were not correctly paid”.
In March 2022, AML Tax was fined £150,000 after HMRC brought an Upper Tribunal case over the firm’s failure to comply with formal information notices as part of a tax investigation.
The HMRC said the firm had “aggressively promoted tax avoidance schemes in the UK”. It was further ordered to hand over the records needed to calculate the tax it owed, estimated at the time to be more than £3m.
The company director of AML Tax was Arthur Lancaster, who confirmed to the tax tribunal that the firm was a part of Barrowman’s Knox Group.
The tribunal criticised the company and Lancaster, describing him as “evasive” and displaying “a lack of candour”.
Mary Aiston, HMRC’s director of counter-avoidance, said: “These schemes are cynically marketed as clever ways to pay less tax. The truth is they rarely work in the way the promoters claim and it is the users that end up with big tax bills. HMRC will continue to use all the powers at our disposal to crack-down on promoters.
“Anyone who thinks they may be involved in a tax avoidance scheme, or have been approached by a scheme promoter, should contact us as soon as possible to get help.”
Lancaster told the Guardian: “I should point out that AML Tax (UK) Ltd ceased its business over six years ago, following the introduction of the much-criticised 2019 loan charge. This was designed by HMRC to retrospectively tax arrangements which had, until then, been in accordance with the legislation as confirmed by several tax cases.”
