UK: Chicken franchise, Nando's, alleged to use complex structure to avoid taxes
"Nando's using secretive tax haven trust to avoid inheritance tax bills", 10 Jul 2014:...Buy a...portion of...chicken...at Nando's and the cash flows into a network of accounting devices, involving Malta, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Panama and the British Virgin Islands. Profits finally fetch up in Enthoven's Taro III Trust...[which]...is based in Jersey...[is] not liable for UK tax, [and] contains no less than £750m...Enthoven is...[the] South African tycoon...behind...Nando's. Enthoven's structures are all legal, but they are complex and not transparent. They significantly reduce the amount of tax the company and the family pay...Such arrangements can legally avoid capital gains tax, inheritance tax and potential future stamp duty for those like the Enthovens, whose South African heredity makes them "non-doms"...Nando's does...pay UK corporation tax on the remainder of its profits...Nando's spokesman stressed that..."In the UK, Nando's...incurred corporation tax of £12.6m...in...2013,"...The Guardian calculates that the tax bill might have been...£18m, had offshoring arrangements not existed.