A company founded and run by Richard Tice has been found to have broken tax rules after failing to pay tens of thousands of pounds in tax on dividends paid to him and an offshore trust.
Quidnet REIT Ltd did not apply a legally required 20 percent withholding tax before distributing profits to Tice and a trust registered in Jersey. As a result, more than £91,000 that should have gone directly to HMRC was not paid at the time.
Instead, the money remained tied up in dividends and shares benefiting Tice and his offshore structure.
Tice, now deputy leader of Reform UK and MP for Boston and Skegness, dismissed the issue as a “technicality”, arguing that he later paid tax personally on the income. But tax experts say that defence does not hold up.
The law is clear. Companies are required to deduct and pay the tax upfront when dividends are issued. It is not optional, and it is not something that can simply be corrected later on an individual tax return.
Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates said the rules are well understood across the property sector and described the failure as careless. He made clear that neither individuals nor companies get to decide when tax is paid. The obligation is set in law.
At the time, Quidnet was operating as a Real Estate Investment Trust, a structure designed to give tax advantages to property investors. While REITs avoid corporation tax on rental profits, they must deduct basic rate tax from dividends paid to individuals and trusts.
Quidnet failed to do this on multiple occasions between 2020 and 2021.
In one case, the company issued more than £680,000 in dividends as shares without deducting the tax that should have been paid. That meant thousands of pounds that should have gone to the public purse instead boosted shareholdings.
A second dividend of nearly £290,000 was again issued without the required deduction, giving Tice and his trust a larger payout than they were legally entitled to receive after tax.
A third payment, partly in cash and partly in shares, also failed to apply the withholding tax. Altogether, the missing tax adds up to around £91,200.
This is not a minor administrative slip. The company had a clear legal duty to deduct that tax before making payments. Whether Tice later paid income tax himself is irrelevant to that obligation.
HMRC now has the power to recover the unpaid tax and issue penalties.
The case also raises serious questions about double standards. Tice has previously attacked other politicians over tax issues, including Angela Rayner, saying her position was “morally completely indefensible” and suggesting she should resign.
Yet when it comes to his own financial affairs, the same standards appear not to apply.
The revelations come after earlier scrutiny of Quidnet’s tax arrangements, which showed the company avoided significant corporation tax while using a complex structure involving offshore entities. While technically legal, experts described the approach as aggressive tax planning.
Tice himself has openly said that people should aim to pay as little tax as possible.
But for many, this case reinforces a wider pattern. Wealthy individuals and corporations are able to benefit from complex financial structures and loopholes, while ordinary people are expected to pay their taxes in full and on time.
The issue is not just about one company or one politician. It is about a system that too often allows those at the top to play by a different set of rules.