Boss of store that serves Kate ‘slashed tax with Jersey move’
ENTREPRENEUR Chris Dawson has made no secret of his admiration for Sir Philip Green.
And now the founder of The Range seems to have taken a leaf out of the Topshop tycoon’s book.
For Mr Dawson is said to have saved millions of pounds in tax by reportedly handing over ownership of his main business to his wife Sarah – who lives in Jersey.
Mr Dawson founded The Range in 1989. He now has around 160 stores in Britain and Ireland, with customers including the Duchess of Cambridge.
The businessman is believed to have transferred shares in the firm’s parent company to Mrs Dawson after she moved to the Channel Islands tax haven in 2016.
This meant she did not have to pay the Treasury anything when Norton Group Holdings, which owns The Range, paid out a £39.5million dividend last year, according to The Times. It reported that this denied the UK as much as £15million in tax.
Mr Dawson has previously told how he ‘likes to read what businessmen I admire are up to, like Sir Philip Green’. Sir Philip himself does not own any shares in his Arcadia retail empire, which owns Burton and Dorothy Perkins, as well as Topshop; his wife Tina owns them instead. The Greens set up new companies after they moved to Monaco – another tax haven.
Mr Dawson, 67, a former market trader, likens himself to Only Fools and Horses character Del Boy and even drives a Rolls-Royce with the registration DE11 BOY. He describes his company as ‘a poor man’s John Lewis’ – but that hasn’t stopped it attracting wellheeled customers.
The Duchess of Cambridge was seen doing last-minute Christmas shopping at the Kings Lynn branch near her and Prince William’s home in Norfolk in December.
Mr Dawson and his wife, 56, are worth almost £2billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. The man at the top of the list – Jim Ratcliffe, founder of chemicals giant Ineos – drew widespread criticism when he announced his move to Monaco this year to save money in tax. He had been knighted less than a year earlier. Company filings for Norton Group Holdings show the Dawsons lived in England until May 2016, when Mrs Dawson moved to Jersey, The Times said. At that time Mrs Dawson owned 40 per cent of the company and Mr Dawson owned 60 per cent. The Times said his shares were transferred to her in March 2017.
Wealthy mainland UK taxpayers who own shares pay a 38.1 per cent tax on any dividend – but because the shares are now owned on the Channel Islands this does not apply to any dividends. This means the UK Treas
From the Mail, December 24 ury will have been deprived of £15million worth of tax from dividends of £39.5million that were paid in January 2018.
A spokesman for the Dawsons told The Times: ‘Their decisions and actions were not at all inspired by Sir Philip and Lady Green.’ They added: ‘Mr Dawson remains in the UK for tax purposes and all UK taxes are complied with.
‘Mr and Mrs Dawson and their companies comply with HMRC legislation. Mrs Dawson’s move to Jersey has no impact on the group’s tax status.’
The Range did not respond to requests for comment.
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