In 2016, over 100 BBC presenters were investigated over claims they have not paid enough income tax and insurance contributions while in 2018, BBC was accused of “industrial-level tax avoidance” by stars.
India
oi-Prakash KL
Even
as
the
Income
Tax
Department
surveys
on
BBC
offices
in
New
Delhi
and
Mumbai
entered
the
second
day,
international
organisations
like
Amnesty
International,
New
York-based
Committee
to
Protect
Journalists
(CPJ)
and
a
few
other
organisations
have
extended
their
support
to
the
UK-based
broadcaster.
Amnesty
took
to
Twitter
to
slam
the
Indian
government
and
said,
“The
practice
of
Indian
authorities
to
weaponize
central
agencies
against
those
who
dare
to
be
critical
of
the
regime
is
deeply
repressive
and
undermines
free
speech.
The
latest
Income
Tax
raids,
which
are
being
masked
as
‘surveys’,
against
#BBC
must
end
now!”
The
controversial
outfit’s
India
hea
Aakar
Patel
said,
“The
tax
department’s
raids,
which
are
being
presented
as
‘surveys’,
come
less
than
a
month
after
the
organization
released
a
documentary
that
openly
criticized
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi.
These
raids
are
a
blatant
affront
to
freedom
of
expression.
The
Indian
authorities
are
clearly
trying
to
harass
and
intimidate
the
BBC
over
its
critical
coverage
of
the
ruling
Bharatiya
Janata
Party.
“The
overbroad
powers
of
the
Income
Tax
Department
are
repeatedly
being
weaponized
to
silence
dissent.
Last
year,
tax
officials
also
raided
the
offices
of
a
number
of
NGOs,
including
Oxfam
India.
These
intimidatory
acts,
which
undermine
the
right
to
freedom
of
expression
in
India,
must
end
now,”
he
added.
When
Congress
MPs
said
BBC
never
missed
an
opportunity
to
malign
India
Similarly,
the
CPJ,
supposed
to
be
an
independent
non-profit
outfit,
has
asked
the
Indian
government
not
to
harass
the
journalists.
“Indian
authorities
have
used
tax
investigations
as
a
pretext
to
target
critical
news
outlets
before,
and
must
cease
harassing
BBC
employees
immediately,
in
line
with
the
values
of
freedom
that
should
be
espoused
in
the
world’s
largest
democracy,”
it
said.
Paris-based
Reporters
Without
Borders
(RSF)
tweeted:
“The
searches
by
the
tax
authorities
of
the
offices
of
@BBCWorld
in
#Inde,
3
weeks
after
the
censorship
of
his
documentary
on
@narendramodi,
constitute
an
outrageous
reprisal.”
The
officials
from
the
Income
Tax
department
have
been
carrying
out
surveys
in
the
BBC’s
office
in
Delhi
and
Mumbai
since
yesterday
morning.
Interestingly,
this
is
not
the
first
time
where
the
BBC
has
come
under
scrutiny
over
tax-related
issues.
A
2012
report
of
the
Public
Accounts
Committee
in
the
UK
claimed
that
thousands
of
employees
were
not
paying
their
tax
at
source
and
the
broadcaster
had
claimed
that
it
could
not
guarantee
that
the
individuals
concerned
were
paying
the
right
amount
of
tax,
the
PAC
report
said.
Despite
hiring
employees
for
long-term,
BBC
had
148
of
its
467
presenters
employed
through
personal
service
companies.
“These
are
people
who
are
freelance
by
their
very
nature,
or
certainly
that’s
the
way
their
services
want
to
be
provided
to
the
BBC
and
the
use
of
the
service
company
is
therefore
there
to
protect
the
BBC
from
any
unexpected
exposure
should
HMRC
disagree
with
that
position,”
its
Head
of
Employment
Tax,
David
Smith,
told
BBC
Radio
4’s
Today
programme.
He
claimed
that
the
corporation
was
“complying
with
the
legislation
that
is
there,
absolutely.”
Targeting
BBC
would
shed
bad
light
on
Indian
government
at
global
platform:
Ashok
Gehlot
In
2016,
over
100
BBC
presenters
were
investigated
by
HM
Revenue
and
Customs
over
claims
they
have
not
paid
enough
income
tax
and
National
Insurance
contributions.
The
Contractor
Calculator
reported
that
the
issue
came
to
light
following
the
ruling
on
a
tax
tribunal
case
brought
by
BBC
newsreaders
Tim
Wilcox
and
Joanna
Gosling
who
appealed
against
a
previous
judgement
that
they
failed
to
pay
enough
tax
during
the
period
when
they
were
classed
as
“self-employed”.
According
to
a
report
in
2018,
BBC
was
accused
of
“industrial-level
tax
avoidance”
by
stars
who
faced
huge
bills
after
a
tax
probe.
The
freelance
presenters
started
their
own
personal
service
companies
to
get
paid,
which
also
meant
the
BBC
did
not
have
to
pay
National
Insurance.
The
tax
arrangement
was
made
because
the
BBC
wanted
them
to,
the
presenters
had
alleged.
“If
the
BBC
had
held
its
hands
up
and
said,
‘We
shouldn’t
have
done
this’,
people
would
have
accepted
it.
But
we
have
sat
by
for
years
watching
the
BBC
say
this
has
nothing
to
do
with
them,
as
if
we
all
spontaneously
and
independently
decided
to
set
up
personal
service
companies
at
the
same
time.
We
were
never
given
the
option
of
being
staff.
This
was
industrial-level
tax
avoidance
by
the
BBC,”
The
Sunday
Telegraph
quoted
one
presenter
as
saying.
Another
report
claimed
that
the
BBC
in
2019
had
set
aside
up
to
£12
million
to
pay
off
the
past
tax
liabilities
of
BBC
presenters
being
pursued
by
HMRC
for
tax
avoidance
using
personal
service
companies,
the
BBC
annual
report
revealed.
These
reports
clearly
indicate
that
BBC
has
come
under
scrutiny
on
earlier
occasions
as
well
and
organisations
responding
to
I-T
surveys
in
Mumbai
and
Delhi
offices
are
reacting
without
taking
its
past
tax
avoidance
issue
into
consideration.