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Global ports group controlled by Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed accused of tax avoidance following rate booster scheme
The dispute with HMRC relates to a scheme dreamed up by P&O in 2004. At the time, KPMG were auditors and tax advisers to P&O, receiving £5.2m in fees during 2004, including £2.8m in tax work and other non-audit fees.
P&O transactions between UK and Australian subsidiaries in October 2004 sought to artificially create a UK tax credit for foreign tax payments. Such avoidance structures are known as “rate booster” schemes. Last week the tribunal branded the scheme “an elaborate trick”.