Andersen Tax UK Announces New Team Arrivals

We are pleased to announce that Kevin Hindley and Warren Howells have joined Andersen Tax as partners, and Musa Sabo as Senior Manager.

Kevin is Head of Corporate and Real Estate Tax in the UK. Kevin is an experienced tax practitioner with over 20 years in the profession. He advises a variety of clients across several sectors but has a key focus on real estate.

Warren is a Partner in the Corporate Tax group. He has 20 years’ experience advising clients, ranging from small and medium sized enterprises, private equity backed businesses to large multinational groups.

Musa is a Senior Manager at Andersen Tax UK. His clients include listed property developers, OMBs and a hotel operating business. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, he spent 4 years working at a FTSE listed business before joining Andersen.

Full details were published in Tax Grotto, 5 April 2020, and can be found here. News of this was also published in Financial Adviser (page 19) and Accountancy Today, 7 April 2020, and can be found here.

If you would like to get in touch with Kevin, his email address can be found here, and his telephone number is +44 (0)7939 468 157.

If you would like to get in touch with Warren, his email address can be found here, and his telephone number is +44 (0)7876 712 951.

Is Virgin Atlantic’s claim for a bailout legitimate?

Following news that senior clergy including Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, have said companies registered in offshore tax havens should be refused government bailouts, Miles Dean, Head of International Tax at Andersen Tax UK, commented as follows:

“Virgin Atlantic is a British airline. 49% happens to be owned by the American airline Delta (who have said they will not bail Virgin out, as they have their own house to look after). Sir Richard Branson’s offshore holding structure owns the balance. Branson’s personal tax affairs and the fact that Virgin Atlantic is foreign-owned appear to be the reason why the request for a government bailout has been met with such scorn. But this doesn’t add up – either Virgin Atlantic qualifies for a bailout from the Government or it doesn’t.

The “campaigners”, up in arms at the bailout request, are myopic in their agenda pushing. The fact that a UK headquartered airline has foreign shareholders should have no bearing on whether the company has a legitimate claim for a bailout. The business is quite clearly headquartered in the UK and was, until the Covid crisis, reportedly on the way back into profit. It employs hundreds of staff in the UK and provides economic benefits, not least in acting as a major competitor to British Airways. It also changed the way in which we fly – for the better. Unlike many of the low cost airlines that are so prevalent today, Virgin Atlantic sought to provide a superior service, from providing limos to shuttle you to and from the airport, to lounges that really were VIP. For these reasons alone, Virgin Atlantic deserves a hearing.”

Miles Dean’s comments were published in International Accounting Bulletin, 27 April 2020, and can be found here.

Should businesses sign a new ‘social contract’ in exchange for government support?

“NO”, says Miles Dean, head of International Tax at Andersen Tax UK.

The Social Market Foundation has called for revised standards of good conduct and a new social contract in exchange for state support in a time of crisis. This seems to be a thinly veiled call for even more state intervention, leaving companies powerless to choose their personality and ideology — a socialist utopia with the added bonus of naming and shaming.

The response by businesses has been commendable at a time when the state should have been better prepared for a pandemic such as this. Of course, businesses should do all they can to support their employees but, for many, lockdown will be catastrophic.

The reality is that companies cannot print their own money like the government can. It is the government’s actions that have placed the country into lockdown. It is the government that should be scrutinised and held to account, not the taxpayer.

Coronavirus is putting our entire social fabric and economy to test. Our focus should be damage limitation rather than revolution.”

Miles Dean’s comments were published in City A.M, 30 March 2020, and can be found here. They were also carried in print on 31st March 2020 and can be found on page 13.

Google UK pays £44m in corporation tax as revenues reach £1.6bn

Google UK reported revenues of £1.6bn last year according to documents filed with Companies House, despite only paying £44m in corporation tax.

During the full-year period ending 30 June 2019 Google’s UK subsidiary saw revenues increase by £193m compared to the previous year. However, its profits were relatively flat at £182m compared with £181m in 2018.

However, according to Miles Dean, head of International Tax at Andersen Tax UK, the criticism of Google and its lack of tax contribution is “far too simplistic”.

He said: “It’s as if campaigners and MP’s have been living in a parallel universe since the great post global financial crisis tax debate of yesteryear. The focus should never simply be on the amount of corporation tax a multinational pays, because that is far too simplistic. There are many other taxes that a multinational corporation pays, or generates, such as PAYE, VAT, business rates, NICs and so forth.

“The share awards alone will contribute significant income tax from the employees and employees will have more money to spend, generating VAT.”

He added: “The claim that Google is writing its own tax laws is puerile. Either the Tax Justice Network are blissfully unaware of the complexity of the tax rules applicable to the likes of Google, or they simply choose not to properly engage with this. If they did properly engage, they would see that Google’s contribution to the economy is much more than its corporation tax bill.

“They would also see that Google has a choice where it bases its European sales operations – Ireland – and that those functions are genuinely carried on from there. They would also acknowledge that Google is spending £1bn on its KX ‘Landscraper’ HQ, generating employment for 1000’s of employees and countless third parties.”

Miles Dean’s comments were published in Accountancy Today, 8 April 2020, and International Accounting Bulletin, 9 April 2020.

Business leaders call for dramatic rise in emergency support

Business leaders have urged the government to dramatically ramp up the levels of emergency support available for companies or risk spiralling job losses across the UK as the coronavirus outbreak escalates.

Sounding the alarm as efforts to control the spread of the disease put Britain on the brink of recession and send stock markets plunging, the Confederation of British Industry told ministers to come up with ambitious plans to provide immediate help to struggling companies…

Trade unions urged the government to consider taking financial stakes in airlines and airports to ensure their survival, as well as subsidies, tax breaks and emergency loans. In a letter to the prime minister, the general secretary of the Unite trade union, Len McCluskey, said: “We urge you to release government funding immediately, so the industry, and the jobs within it, can survive what will effectively be a period of dormancy during the next difficult period.”

Business leaders said the government deserved credit for launching £12bn of emergency funding at last week’s budget, alongside the Bank of England cutting interest rates close to zero to support jobs and growth. However, industry groups and economists warned further action was needed…

The government has said it would back up to £1bn of new lending from the British Business Bank, the state-backed investment bank, to provide loans of up to £1.2m. However, the guaranteed lending is far smaller than an expansion in funding by the German government for its state-backed bank, KfW, to raise its lending firepower from €460bn (£412bn) to €550bn.

Miles Dean, head of international tax at the accountancy firm Andersen Tax UK, said: “This is mass hysteria on a level not known in our lifetimes. If the government’s actions directly lead to businesses being put in jeopardy or failing, then they better turn on the printing presses.”

Miles Dean’s comments were published in The Guardian, Head Topics, The World News, Top Ten News, News Groove, News Archyves UK and USA News Hub.

If you would like more information on any of these subjects, or on tax matters generally, please contact Miles Dean on +44 (0)7785 770 431