In our recent post “British Land: our taxes are REIT” we asked about the large number of British Land-owned companies registered in offshore tax havens, which were mentioned in an Action Aid report about corporate structuring and offshore registrations.
British Land tell us:
“British Land has 143 Jersey and 16 Luxembourg companies covering its UK and overseas operations.
These fall broadly into four categories:
· Dormant companies
· Companies inherited from corporate acquisitions
· Joint ventures with overseas investors
· Companies holding properties located outside the UK.
The interests in overseas companies holding UK property are subject to the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regime created by UK Government in 2007 and overseas companies holding overseas properties are subject to tax in the jurisdiction where the property is located.”
So far, so good. And thanks. The idea that you can make a one-off payment under the REIT scheme to buy yourself out of future tax is interesting. A bit like selling off council houses, only bigger and further away?
But before we start counting our tax chickens, the job needs to be actually tendered.
For now we just need to see some real planning for real people.
Happy New Year folks.