1.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 12:08:19
Not black and white though is it? Presumably JMs taxes aren't done by big Gerry down at the dog and duck, his accountants have found a tax avoidance scheme, like hundreds or thousands of others are doing. Not nice . He tried to keep more of his earnings. tut tut.

On the other hand JMs tax statement/ his tax bill for his time in Spain was 21 million euros . is that not enough? Has he not provided enough hospital beds, school books, traffic lights or whatever tax gets spent on with that 21 million when he was in Spain? Does jm really need another 2,9 million quid, probably not .

Everyone moral compass is set different, i'm more arsed about money being spent on wars, sending rubbish into space, etc etc, when cancer for example is still wiping out millions

JM, Ronaldo, Messi, tip of the iceberg. they are famous. plenty of CEOs at mid size companies making traffic cones or ice cream doing exactly the same you can be sure.

2.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 12:42:11
it goes on everywhere i have worked at places were the boses have rang ther solicitors to ask what they can get away with this week paying lads less money so they can get out of pying less child support yet they seem to avoid jail time and meor you would not.

3.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 12:45:57
Apparently Mourinho issued a statement saying he had paid 26m Euros in taxes representing 41% of his income while he was in Spain, and that the Spanish government had issued a certificate to say he was in compliance after he had entered into a settlement agreement in 2015.

I doubt very much he's going to get locked up.

4.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 13:29:53
If it's evasion then they should be prosecuted, avoidance is another issue. Why would you not do whatever you could within the law to avoid tax? Maybe this is a case of Bumble's Maxim:

"If the law supposes that, " said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass - a idiot".

There, I've quoted Dickens on the page. My work here is done.

5.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 14:23:10
Di Maria fined 1,7 mill today and 1 year suspended jail same thing.

Its the same pattern, same defence . paid their income tax in spain no problem as they see it but see image rights as a world wide market and tax shouldn't be paid in their domicile country. hence the shell companies. anyway the tax man in spain disagrees and seems to be winning all the cases so far . so precedent well and truly set - seem to be focusing on Barcelona and Madrid. so a Tale of two cities RWWD?

6.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 14:46:18
And there are the winning 2 posts of the day :-D - RWWD and BFBW.

7.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 15:44:12
Rwwd has got it spot on. Tax avoidance by means of schemes is not illegal as the accountants are just trying to earn their core on behalf of their clients by clever accounting.
Tax evasion is a different issue and that could carry prison sentences.

8.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 16:08:46
Yes RWWD. Great quote but the original application to controlling one's wife's behaviour is still perhaps the more apposite.

The question on tax avoidance/ evasion is should the construction of a scheme solely to reduce taxes - for example by creating legal foreign shell holding companies, for example - be considered avoidance or evasion? Is it not a fraud perpetrated on the rest of the honest taxpayers?

9.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 17:27:29
My issue is more to do with the morals of the situation as opposed to the legality. If you earn tens of thousands of pounds a week then there is no reason why you should not pay your tax. To have these convoluted work arounds to make you even richer is frankly pathetic.

Whether it is legal or not is secondary for me, pay your damn tax.

10.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 20:46:30
Couldn't disagree more AJH. Everybody should pay the tax they are legally entitled to pay. If loopholes exist its up to to the revenue to close them. Illeagle tax evasion should be punished to the max but taking advantage of loopholes to lesson any tax burden should be used imo.

11.) 21 Jun 2017
21 Jun 2017 22:01:06
One thing is for sure I think this debate about the tax situation has certainly highlighted the moral compasses of different posters.