DAVID Cameron last night lashed out at comedian Jimmy Carr, branding his tax arrangements "morally wrong" after it was claimed the popular entertainer sheltered more than £3 million a year.
His intervention came as it emerged the advisory firm at the centre of the tax furore is a Scottish business consultancy based in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Peak Performance runs the K2 tax avoidance scheme that has enabled Mr Carr to shelter £3.3m from tax, and advises 1000 other clients, accountant Roy Lyness told an undercover reporter for a London-based newspaper.
Mr Lyness is one of five directors of Peak Performance, run from Kirkcaldy by secretary David Gill, who has his own accountancy firm, and Douglas Aitken. The company operates out of a new two-storey office block.
Carr spoke out yesterday amid claims members of Take That – Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and their manager, Jonathan Wild – invested at least £26m in another scheme run by a separate company, Icebreaker Management Services.
Carr was confronted during a show in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Challenged by a member of the audience who said, "You don't pay tax", he replied: "I pay what I have to and not a penny more."
The Prime Minister said: "Some of these schemes – and I think particularly of the Jimmy Carr scheme – I just think this is completely wrong. People work hard, they pay their taxes, they save up to go to one of his shows. They buy the tickets. He is taking the money from those tickets and, as far as I can see, is putting that into some very dodgy tax-avoiding schemes. That is wrong."
The Conservatives have been criticised in the past for accepting large donations from Lord Ashcroft. The former deputy chairman of the party said in 2010 he didn't pay tax on his overseas earnings. In April, it emerged Mr Cameron's Scots-born father Ian, who died in 2010, had invested money in offshore funds.
The Treasury will soon introduce new amendments to the Finance Bill to clamp down on tax avoidance schemes.
The Herald has reported how Peak Performance staged regular seminars. Invitations promised businesses "exciting opportunities" for tax planning, and suggested "business owners generating profits in excess of £200,000 have been able to reduce their corporate and personal tax to zero".
No-one from Peak Performance was available for comment. The investigation by the London-based newspaper found the Jersey-based K2 scheme sheltered £168m a year from the taxman, with Mr Carr its biggest beneficiary.
The comedian's lawyers have confirmed his K2 membership and denied any wrongdoing, saying it had been disclosed to HM Revenue & Customs.
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