VaughanJB
Scrappy VIP
Goodness me, I love this story.
Essentially, some people who own offices in London have come up with a scheme to avoid paying business rates of taxation - fill the office space with snails!
Snail farms are agricultural, and therefore avoid business rates.
"Boxes of snails have been found in central London offices by council officers investigating tax avoidance schemes.
Crates of gastropods have been discovered in the past in what Westminster City Council described as "unscrupulous traders" trying to claim agricultural business tax exemptions by saying they were running snail farms.
Council leader Adam Hug says the recent discovery, at two buildings in Old Marylebone Road, "vividly illustrates an issue of business rates avoidance based on a ludicrous notion".
Under UK tax law, agricultural buildings and fish farms are exempt, external from paying business rates if they are viable commercial businesses, external. The government has been asked for comment."
SOURCE: Snails found in London offices in suspected tax avoidance scheme
Essentially, some people who own offices in London have come up with a scheme to avoid paying business rates of taxation - fill the office space with snails!
Snail farms are agricultural, and therefore avoid business rates.
"Boxes of snails have been found in central London offices by council officers investigating tax avoidance schemes.
Crates of gastropods have been discovered in the past in what Westminster City Council described as "unscrupulous traders" trying to claim agricultural business tax exemptions by saying they were running snail farms.
Council leader Adam Hug says the recent discovery, at two buildings in Old Marylebone Road, "vividly illustrates an issue of business rates avoidance based on a ludicrous notion".
Under UK tax law, agricultural buildings and fish farms are exempt, external from paying business rates if they are viable commercial businesses, external. The government has been asked for comment."
SOURCE: Snails found in London offices in suspected tax avoidance scheme