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Hamilton has defended his tax arrangements before, telling the same newspaper “people don’t realise I pay tax here, but I don’t earn all my money here.”
“I race in 19 different countries, so I earn my money in 20 different places and I pay tax in several different places, and I pay a lot here as well. I am contributing to the country and, not only that, I help keep a team of more than 1,000 people employed. I am part of a much bigger picture.”
We obviously don´t have enough information to judge if Lewis(and other people/companies) are guilty of something, but its at least suspicious.
Yesterday I attended to symposium about international politics and the journalist said "If you dont have anything to hide you pay your taxes in your country or at least in a country where the fiscal information and laws are not opaque."
F1 Drivers are a strange breed. They don't sit in their house in one country and head out to work every day. They live in the air, own multiple homes in multiple locations, and the only time they really settle anywhere is when they're not working (during which time I believe Hamilton tends to go to his house in Switzerland). Where should he pay tax? UK, Monaco (ha), Switzerland, the US, or a small margin to every country where he earns money?
Hamilton is basically a corporate entity, and his tax arrangements are set up as such. His statement is an old one prior to this most recent release where I believe it was more just general complaints about his tax-paying in the UK (because he resided in Switzerland/Monaco) rather than something more specific.
Speaking generally about the press manhunts -
I could be wrong of course but Hamilton particularly doesn't strike me as the kinda guy who wants to be distracted by managing his own portfolio. They hire a guy, that guy provides a return on investment. Ignorance is never the best defence, but really do we believe a bunch of sportspeople and people involved in showbiz are all finance gurus?
I don't agree with this going after Hamilton, nor did I agree with them going after Gary Barlow or Jimmy Carr.
When they get access to data like this, I fully agree with exposing those people who have the capability to influence the rules and take advantage of this. Politicians, media owners, people who donate to political parties, the Queen (!!!) - that type of person. They could be using their influence to not only identify but actually create loopholes for themselves.
For those simply following the rules, often at an arm's length through a financial advisor anyway? Complete distraction from those who should be the real targets.
I am amazed this sort of news comes out at all - data privacy laws and all.
In my country, if you dont pay your tax, sooner or later criminal charges await. Worst case, they will pick you up at customs when entering the country sooner or later. There is no leaking to the press.
This sounds like a rather cheap shot at creating some headlines and i’m disappointed such drivel makes it on to this forum in the first place. This includes similar stories about any other F1 drivers.
As Ennis pointed out - F1 drivers dont have time to fill out tax returns, especially not when as complex as to multiple residence across different countries. It would be managed by a tax specialized company - just as many corporations do the same.
Not for nothing, Rosberg's Championship is the only thing that lends credibility to Hamilton's recent success. Otherwise, he'd just be the guy who's had the best car. — bhall II #Team44 supporter
I think there's a huge misconception going on. What Hamilton is doing, is almost certainly not tax evasion, but tax avoidance. The first one is illegal, the latter is legal. A better word here would be tax optimisation. It's the exact same why he is domiciled in Monaco.
I think what's going on here as mentioned he's a corporate entity, which makes he primarily gets taxed on the divident he gives himself. Tax on dividends is a lot lower than normal income tax. Add in a bunch of structures to avoid entreprise tax by being registered at the Bermudas, which again is legal, and you are doing solid legal tax optimisation.
As mentioned, it is up to the government to act on this by resisting lobby work (oh yes, there's a huge machine at the background that will resist at any cost such reforms!) and introduce a better legislative framework. That has to be done on EU level, but Great Britain already excluded themselves from that effectively. No way one country alone can manage such tax reforms. Capital will always go to the least taxed location. If the last option to not be taxed was opening up an office on the Moon, that would happen at a surprisingly short timeframe.
F1 drivers aren't a strange breed; they do the exact same thing as basically anyone else who has accumulated enough capital. Even social institutions that promote these tax reforms ironically do tax optimisation.
I was going to make a lot of the points already made. RE: avoidance legal, Hamilton already a tax exile in Monaco, multinational companies are financially decentralized to avoid tax...etc
As mentioned, it is up to the government to act on this by resisting lobby work (oh yes, there's a huge machine at the background that will resist at any cost such reforms!) and introduce a better legislative framework. That has to be done on EU level, but Great Britain already excluded themselves from that effectively. No way one country alone can manage such tax reforms. Capital will always go to the least taxed location. If the last option to not be taxed was opening up an office on the Moon, that would happen at a surprisingly short timeframe.
It is difficult for the British PM to take a moral stand on tax avoidance when her husband works for a financial company helping Amazon and Starbucks avoid paying millions in tax. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 33231.html Those leopard print shoes don't pay for themselves.
#aerogandalf "There is one big friend. It is downforce. And once you have this it’s a big mate and it’s helping a lot." Robert Kubica
Didn't the previous Panama Papers show a bunch of drivers had offshore tax accounts (Button, Rosberg, Vettel etc)? Hamilton is the best paid of the bunch so it's no surprise he does too.
We've all known for years F1 drivers (owners, team principles, anyone connected to Bernie) are tax dodgers, nobody lives in Monaco just for the climate, there are far better places (with higher tax laws) to move to for that, so I can't really get riled up over this.
If you read Jackie Stewart's book. He talks about his decision to move out of his home country for a tax haven. The way he figured it was he only had maybe 10 years to make all of the money he was going to have to live on for the rest of his life. Pay most of that in Taxes then getting killed in a race car wasn't a good way to look out for his family. Again this is nothing new.
F1 drivers aren't a strange breed; they do the exact same thing as basically anyone else who has accumulated enough capital. Even social institutions that promote these tax reforms ironically do tax optimisation.
The strange breed comment was in relation to their type of life, and our perception of that life rather than their tax arrangements in isolation.
We perceive them to be employees when they are much more like corporations. Even most other highly paid sportspeople tend to reside somewhere fairly permanently, it's difficult to tie an F1 driver to a 'home'.
F1 drivers aren't a strange breed; they do the exact same thing as basically anyone else who has accumulated enough capital. Even social institutions that promote these tax reforms ironically do tax optimisation.
The strange breed comment was in relation to their type of life, and our perception of that life rather than their tax arrangements in isolation.
We perceive them to be employees when they are much more like corporations. Even most other highly paid sportspeople tend to reside somewhere fairly permanently, it's difficult to tie an F1 driver to a 'home'.
Again, that's not an abnormal thing. For instance, a CEO is by the nature of his title an employee. However, if he has enough capital himself he'll put in it in some sort of holding.
There are more sportsmen and women constantly on the move than you think. Consider Andy Murray or Andre Greipel. They perform their sport across the globe, meaning they will be months away from home. That does make tax affairs a very complicated thing, however.
