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Money Box: Tax havens - 'sunny places for shady people'?

Offshore - not as foreign as it sounds

09/04/2016

Tax havens - 'sunny places for shady people'?

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Tax havens - 'sunny places for shady people'?

How offshore accounts are often just a 'normal part' of most pension funds.

Liability for offshore accounts, changes in the rent-to-own market, the new Innovative Isa and why millions of workers will see their take home pay reduced.

Offshore, tax avoidance, trusts. Words of the week as 11 million confidential documents from the Panama based lawyers Mossack Fonseca were leaked to a German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The 215,000 trusts, companies, and foundations identified are not all owned by world leaders, celebrities, and politicians. There are unknown people of fairly modest wealth there too. What should we do if an accountant or adviser suggests to us that offshore is not as foreign as it sounds?

More than six million people who are members of a workplace pension scheme will find they pay more National Insurance from this week. It's been described by some as a 'stealth tax raid' which will net the Treasury £5.5bn a year. Why is it happening?

How much should a £415 washing machine cost? You could pay £1248 if you rent-to-own it through a firm called Brighthouse. But through one cheaper alternative, you could pay just £648 and own the washing machine nearly 18 months sooner. The FCA is investigating the sector and recently ordered another, quite separate, rent-to-own firm to pay £939,000 redress to 59,000 customers for unfair practice. Should more be being done to stop these firms levying excessive charges on customers who have no other way of buying such expensive items?

This week saw yet another new ISA launched. The Innovative Finance ISA allows peer-to-peer investments to be put into an ISA so that the returns earned are tax-free. The industry say it's a 'pivotal' moment but is it suitable for all levels of investor?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Alex Lewis
Reporters: Jonathan Park + James Melley
Editor: Andrew Smith.

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