Tax avoidance schemes

A number of British celebrities that used tax-avoidance schemes that were challenged by HMRC, are in fact victims of mis-selling, says a claims management company.

Rebus Investment Solutions says it will be taking action against 90 advisers on behalf of some of its 400 clients.

Alastair McEwan of Rebus Investment Solutions told the Daily Mail that while the schemes offered people an opportunity to get back significant sums of tax, the real risks weren’t properly explained to investors.

The claims all relate to a series of investments in film financing and other tax schemes.

Among the high profile schemes was Eclipse Film Partnership 35 organised by finance firm Future Capital Partners in which ex-England coach Sven Goran Eriksson and Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson both invested. Earlier this year, a tax court ruled that the pair - and around 290 other investors in the scheme - were not entitled to the tax breaks they expected.

Rebus says it will not bring any claims against firms such as Future Capital Partners- which says its schemes are legitimate investments – but the financial advisers who recommended their wealthy clientele to invest in such arrangements.

While only a handful of schemes have been successfully challenged in the courts, many more are being probed and set to be challenged by the taxman.

The paper says other film financing schemes created by another company - Ingenious – which attracted a number of footballers such as David Beckham and Gary Lineker – are being explored by HMRC, while a tax tribunal is expected to imminently rule on tax reliefs claimed by some of the Ingenious film investors.

Rebus claims clients alleging mis-selling were aware that they were investing in tax-saving schemes but were not of the risks involved. The company says it will take some of its claims to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and in larger cases, is considering legal action.