Lewis Hamilton finds out he's not special

[stacker1]

He pays some UK tax as he resides in both the UK and Monaco.

That doesn't really add up does it? If you were trying to avoid your taxes you would do all you could to live outside of the UK. Our heroically little scamp went through some hoops to avoid paying tax on a jet yet isn't exploiting any other loop holes. How realistic does that sound to you?

 

[bobthebuilder]

Only no one said that, just as no one had the glass ceiling that you were dripping on about earlier.
If you talk about being proud to be British when there is a reward up for grabs, you would think he might want to pay taxes in the UK. Unless of course what he meant was he'll be proud to have a British honour.

I'm surprised with your business skills that you haven't already pushed the Novo Nordisk foundation into second place.

I don’t live in the UK and IIRC nor do you.
I pay taxes where they are due; for me that is three different countries. If I’m right and you live outside the UK, then you aren’t paying tax back home.

Earnings made by British people outside the UK are not liable for tax in the UK until they are repatriated. I don’t ring up HMRC and ask them if I can pay tax on earnings my Australian earnings. Even if I did, tax would not be due. And I certainly don’t ring them up and say “I’ve paid tax on my Australian income according to the law where I live. Can I please pay British tax too because I’m proud to be British”.

Hamilton’s tax situation must be massively complex; he earns taxable income in at least 20 countries, all of which treat tax differently. Even if he did live in the UK, he would not have any liability for tax on his income made outside the UK as long as he didn’t bring it in to the UK.

 

[stacker1]

I don’t live in the UK and IIRC nor do you.
I pay taxes where they are due; for me that is three different countries. If I’m right and you live outside the UK, then you aren’t paying tax back home.

Earnings made by British people outside the UK are not liable for tax in the UK until they are repatriated. I don’t ring up HMRC and ask them if I can pay tax on earnings my Australian earnings. Even if I did, tax would not be due. And I certainly don’t ring them up and say “I’ve paid tax on my Australian income according to the law where I live. Can I please pay British tax too because I’m proud to be British”.

Hamilton’s tax situation must be massively complex; he earns taxable income in at least 20 countries, all of which treat tax differently. Even if he did live in the UK, he would not have any liability for tax on his income made outside the UK as long as he didn’t bring it in to the UK.

I don't whine about charities and poor little minorities though.

If he stuck to driving fast cars and shagging supermodels no one would give a ****, but as he wants to jaw off about Covid, BLM, diversity, charities etc from the safety of his tax haven I think he warrants a bit of scrutiny.

 

[Tomasz Krachanaker]

I can't wait for him to get the gong. He'll have to take the knee, but in genuflection and acceptance that the Queen is the head honcho and that he will be accepting all the facets of the Dominion. A bit like Lenny Henry.

Lenny would whore himself out for a bed for the night.

 

[leveller]

That doesn't really add up does it? If you were trying to avoid your taxes you would do all you could to live outside of the UK. Our heroically little scamp went through some hoops to avoid paying tax on a jet yet isn't exploiting any other loop holes. How realistic does that sound to you?

As mentioned above Mercedes F1 are a UK based company, all the work is done in the UK so I would guess he has to spend a considerable amount of time in the UK so cannot avoid all UK taxation.

 

[stacker1]

As mentioned above Mercedes F1 are a UK based company, all the work is done in the UK so I would guess he has to spend a considerable amount of time in the UK so cannot avoid all UK taxation.

Still a guess though, and when I read up on him being in the top 5000 taxpayers, the evidence is also pretty light exactly what he (personally) is paying.

 

[bobthebuilder]

With Christmas just round the corner , a few suggestions for his lawyers

Hamilton Propeller Co

View attachment 523840

Hamilton Company | Hamilton Bonaduz AG

IT & AV Hire UK | Rental Services UK | Refurbished Computers & Laptops (hamilton.co.uk)

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire - Wikipedia

Hamilton Academical F.C. - Wikipedia

None of whom have registered the name Hamilton as a trademark. I can’t be asked to look, but one may have registered Hamilton Propellors as a manufacturer of, well, propellers. That logo will be trademarked.

One of them has secured a .co.uk website, but that ain’t a trademark. One is a place and places can’t trademark. And one is a football club that doesn’t make watches or fashion apparel.

All Hamilton (more accurately his company) did was appeal a trademark registration application. Some of the organisations you listed may well have done the same. Or they might have missed it because they don’t properly protect their IP.

 

[leveller]

Still a guess though, and when I read up on him being in the top 5000 taxpayers, the evidence is also pretty light exactly what he (personally) is paying.

Are your tax details and evidence easy to find ?

 

[AsterixTG]

I don’t live in the UK and IIRC nor do you.
I pay taxes where they are due; for me that is three different countries. If I’m right and you live outside the UK, then you aren’t paying tax back home.

Earnings made by British people outside the UK are not liable for tax in the UK until they are repatriated. I don’t ring up HMRC and ask them if I can pay tax on earnings my Australian earnings. Even if I did, tax would not be due. And I certainly don’t ring them up and say “I’ve paid tax on my Australian income according to the law where I live. Can I please pay British tax too because I’m proud to be British”.

Hamilton’s tax situation must be massively complex; he earns taxable income in at least 20 countries, all of which treat tax differently. Even if he did live in the UK, he would not have any liability for tax on his income made outside the UK as long as he didn’t bring it in to the UK.

Money accrued while not a UK resident is not taxed when repatriated - you could create a fortune in say Dubai (was tax free) and bring it all back with you without a penny being paid in tax. You'd obviously pay UK tax on any income that fortune made once you were a UK resident again.

Unless you mean the person is repatriated (becomes a UK resident), not the money being brought back. Wording a bit unclear.

 

[bobthebuilder]

As mentioned above Mercedes F1 are a UK based company, all the work is done in the UK so I would guess he has to spend a considerable amount of time in the UK so cannot avoid all UK taxation.

There were twenty Grand Prix last year outside the UK. A Grand Prix weekend is three days trackside less Monaco which is four. Allow one day either side in country for sponsors events and a Grand Prix weekend is five days. Allow a day each side for travel and a Grand Prix is seven days. So that’s at least 140 days outside the UK just to race. And before you contemplate why an athlete would fly from
Australia on a Tuesday to be in Bahrain the next Thursday via the UK. Realistically he’s out of the UK 160 days a year minimujust to race.

And then contemplate that no sane top athlete would spend the winter in the UK and that’s at least another 90 days.

Before he even thinks avoiding tax he’s nearly hit the 91 day automatic test for overseas tax residency.

Tax exile my arrse

 

[bobthebuilder]

Money accrued while not a UK resident is not taxed when repatriated - you could create a fortune in say Dubai (was tax free) and bring it all back with you without a penny being paid in tax. You'd obviously pay UK tax on any income that fortune made once you were a UK resident again.

Unless you mean the person is repatriated (becomes a UK resident), not the money being brought back. Wording a bit unclear.

Surely money accrued in say Dubai is only tax free when repatriated if you were not resident in the UK in the year it was accrued? Unless you are a non-dom?

 

[AsterixTG]

Surely money accrued in say Dubai is only tax free when repatriated if you were not resident in the UK in the year it was accrued? Unless you are a non-dom?

Yes.

 

[Toastie]

I spend at least 150 days a year overseas. All my income is taxed / raped in the U.K. I’m assuming that’s because my home is in the U.K. making me a U.K. taxpayer.

Surely there’s an element of where whoever pays you is based rather than where you physically are personally whilst earning that money so the fact that he’s here, there and everywhere on the job is irrelevant?

If he‘s being payed by a company registered in the U.K. then it all becomes a question of where he lives surely? Which would make him a tax exile?

 

[bobthebuilder]

Yes.

My core point is that, even if LH chose to live in his childhood home on Stevenage, he probably wouldn’t be liable for tax on any income earned outside the UK even if he repatriated it.

 

[AsterixTG]

My core point is that, even if LH chose to live in his childhood home on Stevenage, he probably wouldn’t be liable for tax on any income earned outside the UK even if he repatriated it.

He would be liable unless there was already a reciprocal agreement in place that deducted tax in that territory.

This assumes he's a U.K. Resident.

 

[bobthebuilder]

He would be liable unless there was already a reciprocal agreement in place that deducted tax in that territory.

This assumes he's a U.K. Resident.

Core point being he wouldn’t be a UK resident under Test 3, the 91 day rule.

 

[AsterixTG]

Core point being he wouldn’t be a UK resident under Test 3, the 91 day rule.

Where would he be a resident of then?

 

[stacker1]

Are your tax details and evidence easy to find ?

No but then no one is claiming Im in the top 5000 UK tax payer while I live in a known tax haven.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I spend at least 150 days a year overseas. All my income is taxed / raped in the U.K. I’m assuming that’s because my home is in the U.K. making me a U.K. taxpayer.

Surely there’s an element of where whoever pays you is based rather than where you physically are personally whilst earning that money so the fact that he’s here, there and everywhere on the job is irrelevant?

If he‘s being payed by a company registered in the U.K. then it all becomes a question of where he lives surely? Which would make him a tax exile?

It’s called the Statutory Residence Test.
RDR3: Statutory Residence Test (SRT) notes. You would only qualify as being non-resident if you were in the UK for less that 91 days in a year.

In any event, my guess is that you are not classed as being outside the UK if you are driving a bus flying a jet out of or into the UK. Maybe ask your union rep?

Hamilton’s situation is clear; he probably qualifies as non-resident on all three statutory tests as a result of his job. He’s not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. It makes not a jot of difference whether he’s paid by Daimler Benz AG or Mercedes
Benz Grand Prix Ltd. Tax is a matter for the individual.

 

[leveller]

No but then no one is claiming Im in the top 5000 UK tax payer while I live in a known tax haven.

Neither is he, he does though say he pays tax in this country, and both left and right leanings of the press also confirm he is in the UK's top echelons of tax payers. I agree with you I wouldn't pay tax if I could, and he is advised by the best in these terms, if they can't get him out of UK tax then he obviously has an obligation to pay it on some of his earnings.