Verbal

I think you missed my... Oh never mind.

This thread is getting more and more like a certain Monty Python sketch (with some dimwitted Californian trolling thrown in).

Bang on, Ducky! There's hope for you yet.

Sorry. We all are.

Thanks. I'd have missed that otherwise.

That's basically happened in 'prime' London already. The super-rich swan into One Hyde Park and other ludicrously over-priced areas like Mayfair, buy the lot, avoid even paying the paltry sums in council tax (really would it hurt them?!!!), and decimate the areas. They've become over-decorated ghost towns. The money the super-rich spend has all been spent on the properties themselves, which are kept empty for most of the year. All it's actually injected is a property boom in central London at a time when the world, economically speaking, is on the brink of a depression to rank up there with the 30s. The only businesses in the erea benefitting are the estate agents.

Yes, we've already established that beyond doubt. He's also Saintsweb's most popular poster.

The real difference is that Rangers will be back. PFC won't be.

Pogrebnyak endeared himself very quickly to Fulham fans because he came in on loan and quickly started scoring goals. Then he just stopped. And there wasn't much else to his game.

SD, I'm sure you came on here for advice. Instead you've just relived the experience. Another Saintsweb triumph!

Dear god.

If you're going to cut off the relevant bit of my post it may sound like rubbish. I made reference to residency, which is crucial here. By the way, I don't want to make you nervous, but the Anglo-US Tax Treaty is one I know well, having had to make extensive use of it, and it's not a given that you don't owe tax in the UK as well, unfair though that might sound. (Again, it depends on residency issues)

Says the poster with more than 27,000 posts (**** me!).

I don't recall that the FL went into any of that detail - and with good reason, given the legal ramifications.

And you've been in Scotland too long you soft southern git.

The problem is that his NI tells HMRC roughly what his gross salary is, and will wonder where the PAYE has gone - if he's on staff. If the employer is (as it will be) also paying NI contributions, it may also be audited because of discrepancies like this. Whether he's on contract or staff, he'd also have to meet strict limited-residence rules to avoid PAYE or income tax calculated as a sole trader.

If he's paying his NI contributions but not tax he's going to get a knock on the door.

Johnny, the old 'tax evasion=illegal/tax avoidance=legal' thing is guff, really. A large number of tax avoidance schemes have not had their legality tested - by definition. Many of them either do in fact turn out to be illegal, or a loophole is closed to ensure that a manifestly unjust means to avoid tax is closed down. And the 'hypocrisy' charge is a red herring - it's really about the morality of one group of people being paid millions and paying all but zero, contrasted with the majority paying 20+% on incomes far, far smaller.

Twice.

No it's not and no they don't. There are a number of ways of ensuring that the loan doesn't become taxable here. The one typically used by the film investment vehicles is to export the company offshore just before any tax becomes due. Perfectly 'legal'. And precious little money ends up in UK film investment - it's more often used to acquire certain (write-offable) rights in mainstream Hollywood junk.

We could wait until 2015.

And what would you say of the comparison between Carr's (and many others', of course) payment of tax at a rate of around 1% of millions, as against 20% of precious little for someone on, say, £15,000 a year. We are - are we not? - 'all in this together'. The same applies to companies of course, including (ironically) the famously 'tax-avoiding' News International, publishers of The Times.

Look out Johnny!

That's okay Andy. If I were a liberal I'd be confused too.

Bad movie. You have my deepest sympathies.