re: tax and other evils Exberliner,A, probably ilegal, scheme...

re: tax and other evils Exberliner,

A, probably ilegal, scheme that I briefly considered was to 'give' a sum of money to someone who is not resident is Australia i.e. my mother. Have them open an internet based trading account with Sanford or someone similar and operate it myself, "on her behalf" you understand, via the internet.

This account would be liable for the witholding tax on dividends, taxed at source (10%) but be free from capital gains tax.

I think the proxy would need to open an Australian bank account which may be a difficulty.


So far, as far as a non-tax professional such as me can see, this is a legal scheme.

The problem is repatriation of the funds. My mother could give me 'presents' of cash - or indeed 'presents' of cash to all my family, say $10k each at Christmas ($50k total), if I had been successfully trading. Or I could simply have access to the australian bank account she opens and pay for big ticket items from that - cars, holidays etc.

This solves the Australian tax problem, but not any UK liability. I think not declaring would be the way to go, but that would be ilegal I think, unless because it was never repatriated to the uk, it was never liable to tax - don't know.

Also, there may be a problem in the event of the death of the proxy - I have siblings - although, since we are talking dubiuos if not ilegal activities here, I guess I could probably just keep operating the account and not tell Sanford that my mum was deceased.

*#*#*#*#*# Warning *#*#*#*#*#

This is a mind experiment, I haven't done any of the things suggested and it is probable that there are some ilegalities involved in the suggested scheme.

I'd appreciate thoughts on the viability and legality or otherwise of such a scheme though.

Regards,