The family behind bookmaker Stan James is embroiled in a battle with the taxman after they moved part of the business offshore.

Stephen and Anne Fisher and son Peter are heading for a tribunal hearing after they moved their phone and internet betting business to a Gibraltar arm of its parent company in 2000. 

Revenue & Customs says the move was made solely to avoid UK gambling duties. Court documents show that it wants to tax the telebetting business’s profit as if it were the shareholders’ personal income. This is likely to be at the higher rate of income tax.

Tax hearing: Revenue & Customs says Stan James' offshore move was made solely to avoid UK gambling duties

A normal Gibraltar-based company would pay corporation tax at only 22 per cent on profits. 

The special tax charge kicks in if a company moves offshore merely to try to pay tax at a lower rate and is designed to discourage individuals from doing this. 

 

 

 

Firms can move without incurring the charge only if genuine commercial reasons for doing so can be proved. 

Gambling groups have long battled the Government over the way it taxes telebetting, with many big names being run from Gibraltar. 

Details of the Stan James tax battle emerged as part of a row over what documents should be revealed in relation to the case. Neither the Fisher family nor Stan James could be contacted for comment.

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