HMRC applies double standards when it comes to business taxes, entrepreneurs tell BusinessesForSale.com
London (PRWEB UK) 1 July 2013 -- With Google, Starbucks and Amazon under fire for tax avoidance, most entrepreneurs believe HMRC treats corporations much more leniently than small businesses.
Nearly four in five (78%) of those selling a business through BusinessesForSale.com, which canvassed the views of hundreds of buyers, sellers and brokers, agreed that small businesses were treated harshly compared to multinationals, with just 3% percent dissenting – and even then only “to some extent”.
Less than one percent “strongly disagreed” with the assertion and 20% had no opinion either way.
Starbucks drew derision last week for paying income tax for the first time in five years.
And last month, the High Court witheringly described the ‘sweetheart deal’ cut with Goldman Sachs – excused from paying £20m in unpaid tax according to a whistleblower – as “not a glorious episode” in HMRC’s history, although it did rule in HMRC’s favour.
There was also strong agreement among sellers that government policy is organised around the needs of big business rather than small firms, with 78% agreeing and only 7% disagreeing. One in two respondents (51%) strongly agreed.
Meanwhile, 70% also agreed that “capital gains tax is too high and deters wealth creation”. Only 7% disagreed with this assertion.
BusinessesForSale.com co-founder and technical director Andrew Markou said:
“As a small-business owner myself I sympathise with the majority of entrepreneurs who feel a double standard is applied when it comes to unpaid business taxes. It’s galling for small businesses, which employ nearly half of the workforce and mostly pay every penny of their taxes, to see corporations dodge their obligations.”
Rufus Bazley, Dynamis, http://uk.businessesforsale.com, 020 7324 1947, [email protected]
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