ZLX — the R&D tax firm that sued a client for refusing to claim a £30k tax refund for installing a fridge — has quietly rebranded.

Meet TaxTek.

Same people. Same nonsense. New name.

🧵👇 Our new report: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/04/10/zlx…

Compelling article in yesterday's Telegraph on Frankie Dettori's fight to keep his tax avoidance secret. Not paywalled - recommended for anyone interested in tax/tax avoidance/horses

& I'm publishing below all the legal documents from Dettori's attempt to stay anonymous The Telegraph piece is here. It is really good - wish I'd written it. telegraph.co.uk/racing/2025/04…

Today might be the day Donald Trump slaps tariffs on UK goods — because he thinks VAT is a tariff. Yes, he's wrong. But the reason *why* he's wrong is surprisingly deep.

So here's a 🧵 on the nerdy detail of VAT: via beer, Jaffa Cakes and an economic theorem from 1936. Obviously I'm really here to promote my new Radio 4 series, Untaxing. The episode on Jaffa Cake airs at 1.45pm today.

I receive a tax rebate for every listener.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Just really disappointing to see someone repeating an internet myth on primetime TV without doing five seconds of research first.

The rule that applies the lower rate of stamp duty for purchases of six properties was introduced in 2003, when SDLT was created.

https://twitter.com/garyseconomics/status/1906723023102656583

We wrote about it last year. It's literally there in a Google search. taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/06/03/the…

Wow! A new tax grab on savers! How did I miss that?

Thread

(spoiler: I didn't. There is no "tax grab". Someone's got a bit too excited). The Telegraph is smushing together two announcements that accompanied the Spring Statement, and then jumping to an entertainingly paranoid conclusion.

t wasn't mentioned in the Chancellor's speech, but the Spring Statement papers contain a major suite of anti-tax avoidance proposals, probably the toughest ever introduced.

Thread: Longer version of this thread here, with full links to sources: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/26/rad…

Last week we launched a free webapp that shows the tens of thousands of UK companies whose ownership is being hidden, in most cases unlawfully.

It's now easier to use, faster, and has way more features. Quick thread. You can jump to the app and instructions here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/500…

Excellent and detailed FT piece this week on the £100,000 "childcare trap".

If someone earns £99,999 and claims the Governments childcare subsidies, then a £1 pay rise can *cost them* £20,000. They don't get back to where they were until their gross wages reach £145k.

So in this situation it's not rational for someone just under £100k to accept a pay rise/promotion, work more hours, take on more clients etc, unless it puts them well clear of £100k

Millions of pounds now rest on whether large marshmallows are "normally eaten with the fingers". Thread. Historical accident means that food is 0% VAT, unless it's confectionary (20%), unless it's cake (0%), unless it's hot (20%).

So a millionaire's shortbread (cake) has less VAT than a chocolate biscuit (confectionary). This is, obviously, madness.

On Wednesday we published an interactive map showing the tens of thousands of UK companies hiding their beneficial owner. It's now updated - with filters and search functions.

In this thread I use it to uncover a truly shocking and unexpected case of hidden ownership. If you want to jump straight to the interactive map, it's here, together with a short article on the background: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/650…

Mone and Barrowman lied. They told an enormous fib - that they didn't own PPE Medpro - and then sent lawyers to threaten journalists who were exposing the fib.

I've no idea why they think anyone will believe this new statement. PPE Medpro was contracted to supply £200m of PPE to the Government. Barrowman/Mone sent a lawyer to threaten libel proceedings against anyone reporting they owned the company. Which was the truth.

To his credit, the lawyer apologised.

Two surprising entrants on HMRC's list of "deliberate tax defaulters" - people who deliberately didn't pay tax they knew was due (not because they couldn't afford it; because they just didn't want to pay it). Hasan Nawaz Sharif is the son of the former Pakistani prime minister. He failed to pay £9m.

This has been reported in the Pakistani press but not yet in the UK: tribune.com.pk/story/2535249/…

65,000 UK companies are unlawfully hiding their beneficial owner. We've just published an interactive map showing them all.

Thread: If you want to jump straight to the interactive map, it's here, together with a short article on the background: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/650…

So what was the tax scheme that bankrupted Frankie Dettori, and who is the unnamed adviser who sold it to him?

And why should we feel (slightly) sorry for Dettori?

Quick thread. The scheme was pretty extraordinary: Dettori made large "tax-deductible" payments to a trust from 2012 to 2017. Then the trust made large "non-taxable" payments back to him.

(My source for this is court documents which unfortunately I can't share)

New report in The Times: football clubs have been claiming £millions of tax back using a tax relief intended to boost science and technology.

It's a relief that has been widely abused - wrong and fraudulent claims probably cost us all £10bn in lost tax. So were the football clubs really entitled to it? Here are the conditions for R&D tax relief. It has to be an advance in science or technology. gov.uk/guidance/corpo…

Here's why Trump's "VAT is a tariff" claim is beyond stupid. But also why America's *lack* of VAT puts it at an unfair disadvantage. A tariff is a tax on imported goods that doesn't apply to domestic goods. So, for example, most US cars imported into the UK have a 10% tariff. .

Cars made in the UK don't face a tariff, even if made by a US-owned business.

Tariffs *are* discriminatory. That's the point.

A wave of ‘muppet’ directors is coming - ordinary people hired off Facebook to front fraudulent companies, while the real masterminds behind the frauds stay hidden.

It’s already a problem, but it’s about to explode. Here’s why - and how we stop it. 🧵 Meet Donna:

Hundreds of innocent postmasters were prosecuted for false accounting. It's a serious crime.

So what happens to a company's directors when they're caught forging, not one line, but whole of their accounts? And the High Court has said the accounts were forged? This is Shree Investment plc. Its 2016 accounts weren't hugely suspicious, although the numbers look a bit round:

We reported over the weekend on a network of fake companies that tried to steal a Ukrainian gold mine. Some of the trails lead to the KGB and apocalypse cults, and that's way beyond our little think tank.

Here's a list for any journalists/OSINT people wanting to pick it up: First level of difficulty. Why were all these companies created? We know the 2019 companies were created (at the red line) to seize the gold mine. But what happened in 2012 and 2016 (the green lines)?

(interactive version of the chart: ) taxpolicy.org.uk/wp-content/ass…

Our new report: the world's most convincing fake company - and how it tried to seize a gold mine in Ukraine

That leads to 60 fake companies, £300bn of fake gold & even a fake country. With backing from the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Nadhim Zahawi and Baroness Mone. All fake. This will be a long thread. But if you want something more convenient, longer, or you just love footnotes, our full report is here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/02/08/who…

Our latest update: mistakes by Companies House and the Financial Conduct Authority resulted in fraudsters obtaining FCA authorisation. A thread: In 2017, the fraudsters applied for FCA registration for a company called Stallion Financial Investments plc. Here's its balance sheet, showing £12m of assets.