"Loopholes cost HMRC £5bn a year, say MPs" (and a reminder about Hammerson)

Link to The Independent

"The accountants and lawyers behind sophisticated tax-avoidance schemes, such as that once used by the comedian Jimmy Carr, are 'running rings' around HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), MPs warned last night.

The schemes are costing the Treasury £5bn a year by exploiting loopholes in a complex system designed to help businesses, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

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[Hammerson has arranged to administer its employee share scheme from an off-shore tax haven.

Hammerson has been developing Brent Cross in partnership with a company in a (different) off-shore tax haven.

A third off-shore tax haven company independently wishes to build a waste incinerator at Brent Cross, presumably using (or at least referring to) Hammerson's existing planning permission for a waste incinerator on the site.]