THE TAX HAVEN NEXT DOOR How a group of super-wealthy characters may have used the Isle of Man’s financial services sector and “pro-business” regime to save themselves millions of pounds in VAT on private jets. August 2020 Ronaldsway Airport, Isle of Man. Photo Credit: James Stringer via Flickr The Isle of Man sits in the Irish Sea, tucked who was allegedly able to avoid up to an between England and Ireland. It has close estimated £3.3 million in VAT that might have constitutional ties to the United Kingdom, and been due on his aircraft. like the other Crown Dependencies — Guernsey Global Witness analysis of the data from the and Jersey — the island is not considered part of Cayman National Bank Isle of Man branch — the the UK, but instead “territories for which the result of a hack which was subsequently United Kingdom is responsible". published online at the end of last year by the In the 18th century the Isle of Man was a conduit group Distributed Denial of Secrets — reveals a for smuggling to the British mainland given its further 13 jet-owning individuals who have been low taxes and close proximity to English shores. clients of the bank. As the island is considered In 1876, the British Crown decided to bring the part of the UK for tax purposes, once imported Isle of Man’s customs regime into line and stake a into the Isle of Man jets can move freely to other claim to some of the lost customs revenues. airports within the European Union. Today, the Isle of Man retains rock-bottom tax A presentation given at the 2011 Isle of Man rates — zero for many industries — and is still Aviation Conference by a senior VAT consultant at attractive for those seeking to minimise their Ernst & Young set out the key features of the taxes. But rather than catering for rum and Island’s tax regime, which it labelled “user tobacco smugglers, the 21st-century island is friendly” and “pro-business”. The two examples primed for the super wealthy who want to hold given describe scenarios in which Isle of Man- multi-million pound private jets and lucrative registered companies are established in order to property portfolios, all under the cover of purchase a jet which is then used for business anonymous companies. purposes by a parent company. The Isle of Man allows jet importers to offset their VAT liabilities A “PRO-BUSINESS” AND “USER against their intended VAT recovery at the point of import, which can mean that they make no FRIENDLY” TAX REGIME payment of VAT. One class of assets to which the Isle of Man has Fast-forward five years and the same Ernst & become notoriously friendly is private aircraft — Young tax consultant is advising Appleby — the the number one status symbol for the globally law firm at the heart of the Paradise Papers — on mobile oligarch. the tax arrangements for the import of a $48 million Dassault Falcon 7X private jet to be Since the launch of its Aircraft Register in 2007, purchased by Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov. the island has been widely touted in the financial Tinkov might have used these structures to avoid services sector as the perfect destination for what might have otherwise been a multi-million registering jets. As of today, over 1,000 aircraft pound tax liability. There is no evidence to have been registered to the Isle of Man making it suggest that in setting up and using these the second largest register of “private business” structures an illegal act was committed. jets in Europe. Global Witness sought the opinion of tax barrister Reporting by The Guardian from 2017 Jolyon Maugham QC on the leasing structures documented a series of cases in which the super- described above and the tax advantages that the wealthy were importing jets into the Isle of Man Isle of Man framework and environment has for and apparently reducing or entirely eliminating private jet owners. As part of a broader legal their multi-million pound VAT bills. This included opinion, Maugham wrote, “a taxpayer-friendly the Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton GLOBAL WITNESS AUGUST 2020 THE TAX HAVEN NEXT DOOR 1 attitude may be as valuable to a taxpayer as an review’s points on post-registration assurance for outright exemption.” private jets including new training programmes for staff on aircraft VAT registrations. They added On the point as to whether it could be said on the that investigations are often intelligence-led and basis of the files within the hacked data from that the authorities will always follow up on Cayman National that Tinkov had avoided tax matters that are brought to their attention. Maugham wrote, “tax avoidance is not a term of legal art. In context, in a non-legal sense, I SECRECY AND COMPLIANCE RISKS understand it to mean pursuing an artificial route In an interview with an Isle of Man newspaper, to achieve a lower tax burden than following the the founder of the Isle of Man’s jet registry natural route to that commercial end would suggested that confidentiality was one of the key deliver. I take the commercial end here to be the advantages of offshore jet registration. Given that making available from the Isle of Man for the free the Isle of Man’s jet register is used by non- use of the respective beneficial owners a private residents, such confidentiality is likely to make it jet and the natural route to be those beneficial harder for law enforcement in other jurisdictions owners buying the jet personally or via a wholly to trace assets. owned special purpose vehicle. If we proceed from those premises, it appears to me reasonable Privacy for his affairs might have been what to say that there has been tax avoidance.” attracted those advising Tinkov to use companies incorporated not just in the Isle of Man, but also Tinkov did not respond when contacted by in other secrecy jurisdictions such as the British Global Witness for comment. Virgin Islands. Secrecy jurisdictions are countries When approached for comment by Global that do not routinely share information on who Witness, Ernst & Young stated that whilst they do ultimately owns a firm. The use of the British not comment on individual client matters, Virgin Islands, one of the most secretive neither Oleg Tinkov nor Stark Limited had been a jurisdictions in the world according to the Tax client of the firm for “several years”. It added, “all Justice Network, to incorporate one of his our tax advice, whether in relation to planning or companies suggests that this structure might compliance, is based on our knowledge of tax law have been designed to maximise tax and and practice at the time and providing corporate advantages as well as being hard to transparency to tax authorities”. trace through. In response to Global Witness’ request for Secrecy of beneficial ownership can not only comment from the Isle of Man Customs and enable tax avoidance, but it can also facilitate Excise (IOMCE) and its officials, the head of money laundering. There is no suggestion that communications for the Isle of Man Cabinet Oleg Tinkov was involved in money laundering. Office wrote that the island’s government “will Recent reporting by Finance Uncovered revealed not tolerate anyone that seeks to avoid paying the seizure in Canada of an Isle of Man-registered tax”. They added, “IOMCE has worked with HMRC jet allegedly purchased by Dan Etete, the former in implementing the recommendations in the Nigerian oil minister, with the money from the review, undertaking an extensive exercise on infamous $1.3 billion deal for oil block OPL 245. gathering information, and developing a suitable The jet was owned by a British Virgin Islands- approach to post VAT registration assurance registered company, Tibit Limited. Lawyers activity”. acting for Tibit deemed the seizure unfounded and challenged it, but the decision was recently The response also highlighted specific steps upheld by the Quebec Superior Court, according IOMCE had taken to address a recent UK Treasury GLOBAL WITNESS AUGUST 2020 THE TAX HAVEN NEXT DOOR 2 to reporting from Radio Canada. Shell and Eni are corporate banks, Cayman National has provided currently facing trial in Italy on bribery charges banking facilities to a small number of companies related to their role in the OPL 245 deal. established in the Isle of Man for the purpose of registration of private aircraft, whose beneficial The Cayman National leak covering the years owners have been Russian”. Cayman National 2007 to 2019 suggests that the bank was added, “The bank has never actively marketed to comfortable catering for wealthy clients from individuals in Russia or other former CIS jurisdictions that may have posed heightened territories, and has in recent years adopted a money laundering risks. prohibition on taking on business from this In a 2011 email thread, employees of Cayman jurisdiction. Furthermore, the bank operates an National discussed markets for their aircraft and active risk review programme and has in recent yachting services and named Russia as a good years exited legacy clients where there is a target, but highlighted that it could be a heightened Anti-Money Laundering (AML) risk “minefield” for money laundering risks. Despite and there are further cases under review.” the reservations, and obvious risks, Cayman decided to try and navigate that minefield. Eight THE ISLE OF MAN AND THE years later, seven of the 13 owners of private jet REVOLVING DOOR companies connected to Cayman National In the wake of the Paradise Papers in 2018, the identified by Global Witness were from the former European Commission urged the UK to clamp Soviet Union, including a former Russian senator.