Peter Mandelson gets £400,000 tax-free loan from company he owns

[dmuk]

The Guardian have said Lord Mandelson took out a tax free loan from his limited company...

Peter Mandelson gets £400,000 tax-free loan from company he owns | Politics | The Guardian

The article says the loan has incurred interest at the set rate of 3.25% per annum; and all personal/company taxes have been paid. Is any director loan above £10k considered benefit-in-kind and therefore taxable?

From the headline I was thinking that Mandelson some how took out £400k from his limited company tax free but he did pay tax?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

No BIK if he is paying approved HMRC rate.

He will face a hefty corporation tax charge if it's not repaid within 9 months of his end of year (repayable once the loan has been repaid).

Thhe CT charge plus tighter bed and breakfasting rules prevents this from being an effective means of tax avoidance; it is a relatively cheap way of getting a short term loan though (the effective interest rate is lower as thhe interest is taxable company turnover).

Guardian making mountains out of molehills on this one.

[tractor]

...

No BIK if he is paying approved HMRC rate.

He will face a hefty corporation tax charge if it's not repaid within 9 months of his end of year (repayable once the loan has been repaid).

Thhe CT charge plus tighter bed and breakfasting rules prevents this from being an effective means of tax avoidance; it is a relatively cheap way of getting a short term loan though (the effective interest rate is lower as thhe interest is taxable company turnover).

Guardian making mountains out of molehills on this one.

He already has a bit of form on tax free loans from chums too though IIRC.

[Maslins]

On surface of it, seems completely legal. Article does go on to suggest that people in his position should be acting in the spirit of the tax laws, not just to the strict written words. Everyone will have a different view on that.

Unrelated, on a personal level it disgusts me that he's still in office...how many times do you have to be forced to resign effectively for gross misconduct before you can't just walk into a similar job the next day?