Angela Rayner’s conveyancers deny giving tax advice – report
In a revelation that could well sink the Housing Secretary over the Stamp Duty row, the conveyancing firm has contradicted Angela Rayner's claims that they gave her tax advice.
The firm of conveyancers which the Deputy Prime Minister said had given her tax advice, have denied ever doing so and claimed they are being scape-goated.
As reported by The Neg, Angela Rayner admitted on Wednesday that she had not paid enough Stamp Duty on the flat she bought in Hove. She stated that she relied on, “legal advice that I received that said that I was liable to pay the standard Stamp Duty.” The firm who she says gave her the advice, has contradicted this.
Joanna Verricco of family firm Verrico & Associates in Herne Bay, Kent told The Telegraph, “We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.”
HMRC online calculator
She said the Stamp Duty owed on the Hove flat at the centre of the row, was calculated using HMRC’s online calculator, from figures supplied by Rayner.
She went on, “That’s what we used and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us. We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.
We probably are being made scapegoats for all this and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm.”
“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.”
Regulated to highest standards
A spokesman for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, commented, “We have asked them for a full account of events. They are not licensed to provide tax advice. What they are licensed to do is to provide conveyancing advice, and they are regulated to the highest standards.”
Angela Rayner is currently under investigation by the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, who will decide whether the Ministerial Code has been broken. This further revelation may swing his decision firmly against Ms Rayner, a decision which may be made public as soon as Friday.
Given that SDLT is a self assessment tax, more firms should be extracting themselves from this position by NOT quoting an SDLT calculation in their estimate of fees (as far too many still do) and ensuring that they are referring al purchase clients to an SDLT Expert like https://www.compass.tech/ and ONLY charging the client to submit the return for them. The client must provide an ‘approved’ return for submission.
Why do so many law firms rely on HMRC SDLT Calculator for accurate figures when it fails to account for 98% of potential reliefs, exemptions and interpretations. Surely there is a better way… hint http://www.4stamp.co.uk might have prevented this..
Full HMRC enquiry backdated as would happen to any other person. Ignorance is not an excuse tax responsibilty lies solely with the individual not their advisers.
Naive at best. And as Deputy PM, that naivety undermines her office.
So Rayner is a Liar, as well as a Tax cheat, – well what a surprise ( NOT )
The Tories and Reform should lay of the attacks on Rayner. She’s only there for Starmer to have a rough working class poodle, following in the footsteps of Blair with his pet “thug” Prescott to appease the Unions who would vote for a chimp with a red rosette. But for the centre ground, her voter appeal is just south of nil!
So she will be a great asset for the Tories and Reform at the next election.
And, if as usual some wayward Tory is found “fiddling the books” in the future, they will always be able to quote what will be forever known as “THE RAYNER DEFENCE” –
I wasn’t aware I had done anything wrong.
And if I had done something wrong, I had taken advice from 3 experts, so it must be their fault.
Still if she goes, we will miss the 1.5m new homes she is going to build