A Panorama programme aired by the BBC this week looked at the accounts of the last 17 years for the hotel, and found that it has used an assortment of tax reliefs to avoid paying any corporation tax whatsoever.
Its owners, the Barclay twins, say that they have no idea about the hotel’s tax affairs because they have not had any management responsibility to their UK businesses since retiring to Monaco (a tax haven), 20 years ago.
Sir David Barclay said: ‘The Barclay family members and their companies abide by the law and pay the taxes required by UK law and the laws of other relevant countries.
‘We have always acted in a responsible way with regard to taxation and have never been involved in any tax avoidance scheme. We are no responsible for corporate taxes in the UK and are unaware what tax is paid on the Ritz.’
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