Tice says errors ‘bound to happen’ after reports he failed to pay £100,000 tax

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said he is “always happy to put things right” and will pay what is owed “if numbers need rechecking” after reports he 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.

In a statement on X, Mr Tice said: “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.”

‘A minor administrative error’

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”.