NHS money ends up in tax haven
Guernsey-based company set up by HSBC, but owned by pension funds and small UK investors, takes profits from NHS PFI deals
A COMPANY SET UP BY HSBC has piled millions of pounds of profits from NHS work into an offshore tax haven.
The bank set up a company on behalf of investors to handle profits from Private Finance Initiative schemes, a BBC investigation has found.
The company made more than £38m in profits from 33 PFI hospital schemes, and invested the money in a Guernsey-based business. Through doing so, the company paid only £100,000 in tax – equating to less than 0.5% of the profits.
The company was created to provide investors with a long-term yield, and its assets are subject to UK tax laws – as are its investors and management company, said HSBC in a statement.
“HSBC is not a shareholder in HICL so obtains no benefit from its work/profits,” HSBC added.
Nick Parker, regional director at RSM Tenon, said: “They are obviously trying to minimise the tax that they pay, but they are clearly paying UK tax, on their UK projects.
“The accounts to 30 September 2010 indicate there was a £2.5m tax charge, however when you actually read the notes only £100,000 of that was actually paid across to the UK authorities.”
