Jenrick: Tice ‘thinks he paid right tax’ amid £100,000 shortfall reports

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has said that Richard Tice “thinks he’s paid the right tax” after reports the party’s deputy leader failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax.

Mr Tice ran four shell companies which did not pay any tax on profits between 2020 and 2022, The Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper said that the companies were set up purely to receive dividends from Mr Tice’s property investment firm and pass the money to their parent company.

Between March 2020 and May 2022, Tisun Investments Ltd, then transferred £1,113,000 to Reform UK, the newspaper reported.

Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, wrote on X that “around £98k of corporation tax is due”, plus “about £27k of interest”.

Asked about the news report, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Mr Jenrick told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “Richard has taken advice, he believes he has paid the tax that he should have paid.

“In fact, he thinks he may have overpaid tax because he paid it through his personal taxation, rather than through the company.

“If it transpires that he’s underpaid tax, of course he’ll settle it. But that is not his position.

“He thinks he’s paid the right tax, and that’s absolutely right.”

He added: “As far as I know, HMRC are not investigating. So there is no story.”

In a statement on X, Mr Tice said that he is “always happy to put things right” and will pay what is owed “if numbers need rechecking”.

He wrote: “In a highly successful career spanning 40 years, I have done business in 12 countries across three continents, and been a director of more than 150 companies.

“I have helped build thousands of homes, creating thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions of value for shareholders and investors along with many tens of millions of tax for HMRC.

“I am very proud of this record. Throughout this career I have taken professional tax advice and have always paid everything that I was advised to pay.

“Here’s the reality: tax efficiency is a basic corporate responsibility and duty to shareholders. A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors.

“Naturally, I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course, I will pay what is owed – be that more or less.”

Last week, Reform UK said the reported failure of Mr Tice’s company to pay tens of thousands of pounds in tax on dividends was “a minor administrative error”.

Mr Tice received at least £91,000 because his property investment company, Quidnet REIT Limited, did not pay the required 20% tax on the dividends before they were issued to him and his offshore trust in Jersey, The Sunday Times reported.

The Boston and Skegness MP said on X that “overall HMRC received the correct amount of tax due” and that any issue was due to “complex tax technicality around dividends to certain shareholder classes in REITs”.

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said: “Richard Tice’s credibility is in tatters and Nigel Farage needs to urgently explain why he remains Reform’s deputy leader.

“Tice aggressively attacked the Sunday Times for raising questions about his tax affairs, but he now admits that he may not have paid the taxes he owes.”

She added: “This is a major scandal that’s not going away.

“Tice has called for others to resign over tax errors that involved less money than this.”