England’s ‘tax-dodging’ hotspots revealed

Home Counties dominate list of towns with highest levels of tax avoidance

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People living in the Windsor area are more likely to avoid tax than residents anywhere else in the UK

The stockbroker belt of southern England is “littered with tax-avoidance hotspots”, according to a new analysis of HMRC data.

Windsor was “named as the tax-dodging capital of England”, says The Telegraph, with St Albans and Guildford close behind.

“The Home Counties is home to many high-net-worth individuals and well-paid city commuters,” said Sean Glancy, a partner at accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, which analysed figures gained through freedom of information (FOI) requests.

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“These are the groups most likely to have the highest income tax bills, leading to greater incentives to find ways to reduce payments.”

The league table reveals which towns and cities have the highest concentration of tax-avoidance “disclosures” - declarations made by taxpayers using legal avoidance schemes.

“HMRC can investigate these schemes and their providers and, as a result, may amend legislation where deemed necessary to reduce tax avoidance options that can circumvent the law,” explains Investopedia.

If a scheme is subsequently deemed illegal, participants who have not made a declaration face higher penalties.

The top 20 tax-dodging areas

1. Windsor and Maidenhead: 23 disclosures per 100,0002. St Albans: 203. Guildford: 174. London: 175. Aberdeen: 156. Redhill: 157. Tunbridge Wells: 158. Reading: 149. Cambridge: 1310. Hemel Hempstead: 1211. Exeter: 1212. Oxford: 1113. Chelmsford: 1014. Bournemouth: 1015. Bath: 916. Brighton: 917. Canterbury: 918. Stevenage: 919. York: 920. Swindon: 8

Aberdeen, one of the few cities on the list that are outside the stockbroker belt, is at the heart of the North Sea oil industry.

At the end of last year, Aberdeen-based regional newspaper The Press and Journal reported that “northeast oil and gas workers face a 25% loss of earnings” as a result of new anti-tax-avoidance laws targeting highly paid contractors.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.