Ant and Dec Face Big Tax Bill As Investment Scheme Ruled Illegal

Chiswick-based duo reportedly avoided £200,000 in tax by backing film venture fund

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are among a group of high profile celebrities who could be facing a big tax bill after a film investment scheme was found to be a means of avoiding tax.

They had invested their money in The Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP along with others such as David Beckham and Jeremy Paxman. The Sunday Times has reported that the Chiswick-based presenters could have saved £200,000 in tax by investing in the scheme which aimed to use incentives designed to encourage investment in the British film industry to help high net worth individuals reduce their tax bill. The minimum investment amount was £100,000 and over 1,400 people invested in the scheme. Money raised by the fund helped produce movies such as Girl With A Pearl Earring and Life Of Pi.

Ant and Dec collecting their OBEs

The HMRC claimed that the tax breaks offered to investors with these schemes were not legitimate and their case was upheld this week by a tax tribunal. They will now be looking to reclaim taxes of over £420 million according to the Sun although the Sunday Times previously reported a figure of £26 million for the total tax breaks achieved for investors in the fund.

The case has been ongoing since 2014 when some investors sued the fund saying they had been wrongly advised on the tax breaks on offer. In 2016 a tribunal ruled in favour of the HMRC and this latest case was the result of an appeal by Ingenious.

When announcing the appeal a spokesperson for Ingenious said, “All bar one of the 65 films produced by the partnerships currently being examined by the Tribunal have achieved a theatrical release.”

"HMRC has failed to distinguish between commercial businesses and tax avoidance schemes and have, without proper consideration, deemed all film arrangements to be tax schemes."

A spokesperson for the HMRC said, 'We are pleased that the Tribunal has agreed with us that the vast majority of what was claimed in tax relief by Ingenious investors was simply not due.

'Anyone who anticipates problems paying their tax bill should contact HMRC, who may be able to offer extra time to pay based on individual circumstances.'

The Sun is reporting that Ingenious plans to make a further appeal.

June 1, 2017