Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has come under fire after reports claimed he failed to pay around £92,000 in tax that he received from his property investment company.
The company, Quidnet REIT, founded by Tice, did not pay the required 20% levy on the dividends, known as a withholding tax, which were then paid to him and his offshore trust in Jersey, according to a report by The Sunday Times.
Speaking to the publication, Tice said the failure was the result of a technical error, adding he had “paid all tax at the highest rate on all dividends received” and “HMRC has been paid in full”.
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, also told the newspaper: “The rules are fairly simple and understood by everyone in the property world. Failure to pay the tax looks careless. We don’t get to choose who pays tax and when we pay tax, and the law required that the company paid the tax when the dividends were paid.”
In a statement made on X, Tice said: “Desperate still to smear me and Reform, The Sunday Times has again spent weeks pouring over my company accounts with Labour-supporting tax accountant.
“All that effort has revealed overall HMRC received the correct amount of tax due. Journo now effectively complaining I paid too much tax rather than company pay some tax on my behalf. All due to complex tax technicality around dividends to certain shareholder classes in REITs.”
The Labour Party said this marked a “major scandal” for the party, adding that “Reform aren’t on the side of working people” and Tice must provide “answers”.
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey called the situation “morally completely indefensible” and called on Reform party leader Nigel Farage to “sack Richard Tice immediately”.
However, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, told Sky News: “It looks like the company itself rather than Richard personally made what I think is quite a minor administrative error.
“Richard, in receiving the dividends, would have ended up paying income tax on all of it and in the end HMRC have netted out at the same thing.
“It was years ago. We’re going into election period. The Sunday papers are coming after senior Reform figures. It’s not a surprise but this is a non-story.”
The story comes after Reform sacked its housing spokesperson Simon Dudley earlier this month, following backlash over his controversial comments about the 2017 Grenfell tragedy, which were labelled “deeply dehumanising” by the group representing survivors and the bereaved.
Last year, former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner was forced to step down after admitting to not paying enough stamp duty on a flat in Hove, East Sussex.
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