Mills wanted to use wife's name in tax row
Mills paid 30% penalty on tax settlement relating to Italian payment
David Mills, the tax lawyer husband of Tessa Jowell, wanted to use his wife’s
name to deflect the attention of HM Revenue & Customs, it has emerged.
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend on details of Mills’ settlement with
HMRC over his controversial £350,000 payment from an Italian businessman, citing
minutes of a meeting between Mills and his accountant it had obtained.
Mills failed to disclose the payment to the taxman for three years, and when
he did settle, paid only a 30% fine and escaped prosecution.
The relatively lenient treatment was condemned at the weekend by leading
figures from the tax world. ‘This is a very low penalty rate which others would
never have got away with,’ Mike Warburton of Grant Thornton said.