David Cameron admits he profited from father's offshore fund

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

David Cameron has admitted that he profited from his late father’s offshore investment fund, which was revealed in the Panama Papers as having avoided paying tax in the UK.

The prime minister sold his stake in the Blairmore fund for more than £30,000 in 2010, just four months before entering Downing Street.

Speaking after almost a week of refusing to comment on the leak but issuing four statements, Cameron said he and his wife, Samantha, held 5,000 units in the Blairmore Investment Trust for three years from 1997.

The stake was purchased for £12,497 and sold for £31,500 in January 2010, giving the Camerons a £19,003 profit, £300 below the capital gains tax allowance.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/david-cameron-admits-he-profited-fathers-offshore-fund-panama-papers

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After days of "he does not benefit", "his family will not benefit" etc., we finally get something like the truth. Note that a sale before entering Downing Street means this was also before his father died; this was not just disposing of something he'd inherited. I can't work out how "three years from 1997" and "sold in 2010" works, though.

[enlightenment]

1. Maybe they just dropped the one

because 97 to 2010 is thirteen years.

Fascinating that they sold it, conveniently, for just under the capital gains tax allowance. I wonder if they dropped a digit or two from the sale price, also . . .

[Octafish]

2. PM Cameron admits having held stake in father's offshore trust

"We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000", he told the television channel.

"I paid income tax on the dividends. There was a profit on it but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance so I didn't pay capital gains tax," he added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-britain-idUSKCN0X42KV

But of course.

[suffragette]

3. This after he worked to shield trusts from tax avoidance laws

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/07/david-cameron-offshore-trusts-eu-tax-crackdown-2013


David Cameron intervened personally to prevent offshore trusts from being dragged into an EU-wide crackdown on tax avoidance, it has emerged.

In a 2013 letter to the then president of the European council, Herman Van Rompuy, the prime minister said that trusts should not automatically be subject to the same transparency requirements as companies.

The EU planned to shine a light on the dealings of offshore bodies by publishing a central register of their ultimate owners but, in a letter unearthed by the Financial Times that remains publicly available on the government’s website, Cameron said: “It is clearly important we recognise the important differences between companies and trusts … This means that the solution for addressing the potential misuse of companies – such as central public registries – may well not be appropriate generally.”

[daleo]

4. Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

[The King of Prussia]

5. A few thoughts

1. If there is a discretionary trust it would be truthful to say he won't benefit, even though he may very well do in the future.
2. Does Mary Cameron still benefit from these arrangements? If so, will that not enhance the value of the estate that she eventually leaves?