Tax Relief: Film Industry and Tax Avoidance

tax relief: In what is set to be the longest tax tribunal appeal ever, Ingenious will fight to overturn the court's decision that HMRC was correct in deciding that the investments should not give rise to tax relief for their investors, according to The Guardian. Ingenious, which said it was offering legitimate investment in the film industry, has been accused by the Revenue of tax avoidance, with a former HMRC boss describing its schemes as scams for scumbags . An estimated 620m worth of tax relief was claimed by investors, which, combined with interest, means 1bn is at stake if HMRC loses the case. Stars from the worlds of sport and entertainment, including David Beckham, Ant and Dec and Jeremy Paxman, are among those who put money into investment schemes run by Ingenious Media, a financing company that funded more than 60 films including Avatar and Brooklyn. Ingenious will be throwing the kitchen sink at challenging the original court decision on eight grounds, according to an observer. About 2,000 people invested in the three limited liability partnerships LLPs that are the subject of the appeal Inside Track films, Ingenious Film Partners 2 and a partnership set up to make computer games, Ingenious Games. The tribunal appeal is expected to last five weeks. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.