you declare your daughter a consultant and deduct all the money you pay to her as consulting fees. She uses the money to get haircut, lunch, dresses, etc. and deducts it from her consulting income as business expenses.
In the UK, had an accountant who did something similar for us. Want to avoid a bunch of taxes on large landscaped property? Get a few cows and goats and classify it as a "farm" property. Transportation charges and date-night dinners? Business expense.
Western tax laws were a joke to me as an outsider, heavily geared towards the haves. But hey, I was contributing to the economy too.
Gotta be careful with that sort of thing these days, HMRC has pretty strict rules on stuff like dinners and entertainment expenses. One of the rare positives of a decade of Tory rule is that they know all the tricks their chums are using, so they know how to close a few loopholes whenever they need more pennies in their coffers. But yes, some dodging is still fairly trivial.
From what I know of the Tories (since I've attended quite a few B&Ws) and even Labour (whose conventions are such a mind-numbing affair in comparison), they never touch donors. I found it quite funny that I could buy access to UK ministers for a pittance, while if I had to do the same in India, I would have had to consistently fork over a lot more and sell my kidney along with it. It's funny how you could get access to the PM for just 50k GBP a year, even less if it's a Labour PM, or how you can get access to Rishi for 25k GBP a year. It's also the reason why a lot of donors are Russian or Arab.
> It's funny how you could get access to the PM for just 50k GBP a year, even less if it's a Labour PM, or how you can get access to Rishi for 25k GBP a year. It's also the reason why a lot of donors are Russian or Arab.
If you could actually buy anything but an ear for your complaints access would be a great deal more expensive. That’s not to say this petty corruption of the democratic process is right but it’s like how a Russian would burst out laughing at the idea of a politician with bricks of cash in the freezer. In Russia the Chief of Police lives in a palace he obviously can’t afford on his salary and it’s very public, not something he tries to hide. In the US or UK if you have a freezer full of cash the police are going to get you eventually.
Does move mountains mean something illegal or does it mean you can get a minister to get a civil servant to look at something? Because £50K a year will pay for a journalist/PR person who can also eventually get a civil servant to look at a thing. Access isn’t corruption, even if it is unfair.
If you mean form a cohort with other like-minded donors to influence policy, yes. Does it mean tiny favors here and there from time to time? Yes. Does it mean you can expedite yourself into a citizenship? No.
Easily did for 4 years. A lot of it was perfectly legal as long as it wasn't overboard (funding grocery shopping as business expenses for example), wasn't recurring and wasn't too high without reason (funding your wedding as a business expense for instance).
The UK tax laws are a joke. As told to me by multiple HMRC auditors, and my accountant (who is funnily a former HMRC auditor). The US' laws are an even bigger joke. After incorporating on the mainland, I've found that Swiss/Liechtensteiner/Luxembourgian tax laws are actually pretty decent and exacting, in spite of them being criticized as a tax haven and all.
Also, was neighbours with a ton of Arab guys in Knightsbridge who used to offset the risk of being caught (since they were into active money laundering), by donating to the Tories. Disgusting, but it is what it is.
My dogs featured in a viral YouTube video and generated some income. I asked my CPA if I could deduct my dog food expenses. He said no. But I mean, if those dogs don't eat, they don't keep generating viral content!
huh! i'm in no way a CPA, yet my understanding from just occasional reading of the 1040 instructions is that in US you can deduct hobby expenses from that hobby income, it is just that the expenses can't be more than that income (for the expenses to be more than income it should be a "business", not a hobby. I personally find it pretty funny, something like a joke Q:"guess what is the difference between hobby and business?" A:"if you lose money than it is a business, if you make the money - it is a hobby!")
