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How the pros do it - millionaire estate agent on tax credits

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    How the pros do it - millionaire estate agent on tax credits

    Bentley-driving estate agent gets tax credits for the poor...which means his ex-wife can't get him to pay more child support | Mail Online

    With his £1.5million house, Bentley convertible and children at private school, estate agent Simon Pelling looks the picture of success.

    When you include his second wife’s £55,000 Range Rover and the month-long holidays to Florida and Spain, it is no surprise that his family’s lifestyle can cost £10,000 a month.

    Yet astonishingly, he is officially treated as a ‘low-paid worker’ in need of rescuing from ‘poverty’. For Mr Pelling is paid Working Tax Credit – around £140 a month from public funds.

    The financial support he enjoys from taxpayers emerged only after his first wife asked for an increase on the £70-a-week child support payments for their two children, in light of his high-spending lifestyle.

    But at a tribunal in Sutton, Surrey, Mr Pelling benefited from a Child Support Agency loophole which means anyone paid Working Tax Credit cannot be ordered to increase child support payments.

    Mr Pelling, however, insisted he was entitled to the money. He claims his estate agency pays him only £12,000 a year.

    That is why he qualifies for Working Tax Credit, which is understood to result in payments to him of around £1,650 a year.

    What Revenue and Customs does not take into account is the £5,000-£10,000 a month he takes out of his company to fund his lifestyle.

    And perfectly legitimately, he says, as the credit is related purely to income and not assets. ‘I part-own an estate agency, it isn’t profitable,’ he said.

    ‘I’m paid £1,000 a month. But it owes me about £400,000 – money I earned, paid tax on, and invested in the business – and I’m taking out that equity as I’m entitled to.

    An HMRC spokesman confirmed: ‘The measure of income is based on income charged to income tax.’

    #2
    Do it say who his accountant is
    Fiscal nomad it's legal.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by dude69 View Post
      ‘I’m paid £1,000 a month. But it owes me about £400,000 – money I earned, paid tax on, and invested in the business – and I’m taking out that equity as I’m entitled to.
      So what is wrong here?
      How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

      Follow me on Twitter - LinkedIn Profile - The HAB blog - New Blog: Mad Cameron
      Xeno points: +5 - Asperger rating: 36 - Paranoid Schizophrenic rating: 44%

      "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office" - Aesop

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by HairyArsedBloke View Post
        So what is wrong here?
        Assuming what he says is true:

        And perfectly legitimately, he says, as the credit is related purely to income and not assets. ‘I part-own an estate agency, it isn’t profitable,’ he said.

        ‘I’m paid £1,000 a month. But it owes me about £400,000 – money I earned, paid tax on, and invested in the business – and I’m taking out that equity as I’m entitled to.
        If it isn't profitable, sooner or later he's going have a problem, but it could be a case of getting out what cash he can before it all goes pear shaped.
        Behold the warranty -- the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Sysman View Post
          Assuming what he says is true:
          Profit and loss is one of the easiest elements to manipulate in a company's accounts, at least in the short term.

          This is largely because it often depends on interpretation as to what (and more importantly when) something counts as income and cost, particularly something spanning several years.

          In the long run, it all balances out, but in the long run, we're all dead (Keynes)

          This reminds me of the movie Forrest Gump. The writers were on percentage deal but didn't get a penny after Paramount basically "siphoned off the profits". Tom Hanks and the director however got a fortune as they were on a percentage deal with slightly better wording.

          http://www.redballoon.net/humor/gump.txt

          Comment


            #6
            I thought in nearly all matters, HMRC count total income from all sources? Certainly they do where things like student loans are concerned, after a lengthy discussion last year.
            Originally posted by MaryPoppins
            I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
            Originally posted by vetran
            Urine is quite nourishing

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by d000hg View Post
              I thought in nearly all matters, HMRC count total income from all sources? Certainly they do where things like student loans are concerned, after a lengthy discussion last year.
              Well it is only fair. When you consider the mammoth task it must have been bludgeoning knowledge into the dormant organ you keep secreted away between those flapping ears of yours, it is only right you cough up. The only question is whether or not your working life will last long enough for we, the taxpayers, to recoup all of the outlay.
              Of course it is a whole other debate as to whether or not the entire exercise was just a case of casting pearls before swine anyway!

              “The period of the disintegration of the European Union has begun. And the first vessel to have departed is Britain”

              Comment


                #8
                All HMRC care about is what you earned, not what you learned They might demand the balance is paid off this year, SATR is in the system so will have to wait and see when my debt to society is paid in full.
                Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                Originally posted by vetran
                Urine is quite nourishing

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by d000hg View Post
                  I thought in nearly all matters, HMRC count total income from all sources? Certainly they do where things like student loans are concerned, after a lengthy discussion last year.
                  Yes, but if you read the story, the additional £5-£10k per month isn't income.

                  It was income however long ago it was earned and had tax paid on it. Now it is the repayment of a loan he has made to the business.

                  Comment

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