Bernie Ecclestone’s tax

Bernie Ecclestone came before the court where he pleaded guilty to tax fraud and was ordered to pay £652 million in taxes, interest, and penalties. It is believed to be the largest ever settlement of its kind. However he was lucky aged 92 not to go to jail. Instead he was given a seventeen month suspended sentence.

A few years ago, I read Tom Bower’s book No Angel about the rise and rise of Bernie Ecclestone who grew up in poverty, but through his genius at spotting an opportunity made motor racing into the second most popular sport. He made his fortune by promoting it on television and and to the world.

But, from what I read, I suspected he was evading his taxes.

He was the son of a Suffolk fisherman - which indicated to me that he was UK domiciled. Therefore any trust he set up, whether offshore or onshore would be liable to inheritance tax - depending on the type of trust. Furthermore it appeared to be managed and controlled by Bernie from the UK and therefore subject to both income tax and capital gains tax.

We are told he had siphoned £400 million into a Singapore trust.

What is interesting is how HMRC got sufficient information to take Bernie to court.

In May 2014, forty-seven countries agreed to share financial information which was called the Common Reporting Standard’ formally referred to as the Automatic Exchange of Information. This included all 38 OECD countries one of which is Singapore.

As of July 2015, 53 jurisdictions had signed the agreement to automatically exchange information. As of 2016, 83 jurisdictions had signed the agreement.

Did HMRC get the information from Singapore under these provisions? If so I suspect we will see many more people like Bernie Ecclestone being brought to book with court orders to pay back taxes, penalties and interest. That would be good.