Hamilton accused of tax avoidance

[Londoner]

Our Lewis allegedly entered a scheme to avoid paying tax levied on his private jet. Seems like pretty serious stuff.

[mario]

Our Lewis allegedly entered a scheme to avoid paying tax levied on his private jet. Seems like pretty serious stuff.

Whilst it is a serious allegation, I have to wonder whether anything will come out of it given that little seems to have happened after the earlier "Panama Papers" leak.

After all, there were questions raised about Nico Rosberg's financial arrangements after it transpired that he'd set up holding companies in the Channel Islands and in Panama to process his salary, but as far as I am aware nothing came out of that.

I can't help but feel that there will be an initial fuss made over this to act as a warning and to make it look as if they are taking it seriously, but once the initial interest has died down and the press have moved elsewhere, then Hamilton and the HMRC will come to some sort of private agreement and the whole affair will be forgotten.

[Barbazza]

I'll be quite honest here and say that I couldn't really give a fig about any of this stuff. There always has been tax avoidance, there always will be, and as long as it's not evasion (which is illegal) it doesn't bother me what people do with their money whether that's The Queen or Joe Bloggs down the road.

The spurious argument of 'Well, we could have that money in hospitals, schools etc. etc.' just doesn't wash with me as you could say that about ANYTHING: Lewis's salary, the HS2 project fund, my potential bonus for hard work. Take your pick.

[BabyG]

Please don't be horrible to Lewis. He doesn't avoid tax, he only evades tax. No. wait it's the other way round…

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Please don't be horrible to Lewis. He doesn't avoid tax, he only evades tax. No. wait it's the other way round…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpEaFmK3lrY

[WeirdKerr]

not surprised....

[mario]

Please don't be horrible to Lewis. He doesn't avoid tax, he only evades tax. No. wait it's the other way round…

It'd probably be quicker to find a championship winning driver who didn't avoid tax though - from what I can tell, every single driver who has won the title since 1985 has been a tax exile (though Alonso does seem to have moved back to Spain recently), and indeed the vast bulk of the drivers who have been champions over the years, from whatever nation they originated from, spent at least some of their time in places like Jersey or Switzerland.

I wonder if there is the possibility of seeing Mansell and Button crop up amongst those papers given their residency in the Channel Islands. Mansell is, I believe, still officially resident in Jersey, whilst Button initially moved to Jersey before his later move to Monaco.

[dr-baker]

One FIA world champion that this will not affect of course is Andy Priaulx, and presumably won't affect Charles Leclerc, Olivier Beretta, etc.

[Wallio]

I can't stand Hammy but seriously, this is weak. All drivers do this. That's why they all "live" in Monaco.

[Nuppiz]

I can't stand Hammy but seriously, this is weak. All drivers do this. That's why they all "live" in Monaco.

True. But it's one thing to avoid income taxes by "living" in a country that has low or non-existent taxation, and completely another to have complex schemes set up to avoid paying taxes for pretty much everything.

Personally I find such practice disgusting, but frankly not surprising. It seems that the richer people (and businesses) get, the less they want to pay taxes. To a point where entities earning tens of millions a year pay less taxes than Average Joe, thanks to clever "tax planning".

[Wallio]

Personally I find such practice disgusting, but frankly not surprising. It seems that the richer people (and businesses) get, the less they want to pay taxes. To a point where entities earning tens of millions a year pay less taxes than Average Joe, thanks to clever "tax planning".

Well I certainly can agree with that, but I feel its not really a knock on the person. If the system allows it, one would be stupid not to do it. Now if we want to talk of changing the system....

[Collieafc]

The one upside is I will now go to sleep tonight smiling in the knowledge that BBCs Andrew Benson will be in a knot with the idea that his beloved Hamilton will be (temporarily) villified by the press

But its nothing new - Formula 1 drivers have been at tax planning since the 60s if not 70s

[AndreaModa]

And Hamilton will have an entire team of suits doing all this for him. His knowledge of the whole thing will be limited at best. It's hardly like he's sat there planning this stuff out is it.

Also, for anyone abhorred by all this, just think that if you've ever paid cash in hand for a job on your house or whatever, then you've avoided tax too. We're all at it to a greater or lesser extent.

[Faustus]

Unfortunately tax avoidance is legal, while evasion is a crime. The current UK tax law is far too lax so it allows for several means of avoiding tax for those are willing and can afford to exploit them.