A branch of Next
Next was revealed as the latest tax-avoiding multinational yesterday when a tribunal dismissed its “ill-founded” attempt to circumvent more than £32 million in UK tax.
The clothing retailer took advantage of complex laws offering tax relief on dividend payments to help it to shelter £106 million in overseas profits, the tax tribunal found.
Through a series of pre-planned transactions, Next’s accountants created large dividend payments between its subsidiaries without transferring significant profits.
The lawyer for Revenue & Customs argued that the transactions were designed to “inflate” the tax relief to which Next was entitled through “artificial” and “implausible” means. The
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