BT chief’s tax wheeze

THE new boss of BT took part in a notorious tax avoidance scheme used by celebrities and bankers to skip payments of £700m.

Philip Jansen, who was named the telecoms giant’s next chief executive last week, was part of Ingenious Film Partners 2 for five years up until 2011.

The scheme, branded a ‘tax wheeze’ by critics, collapsed after an HM Revenue & Customs probe found it was illegal. It took advantage of tax breaks for the British film industry, with the likes of David Beckham and Lord LloydWebber piling in to make savings on their bills.

BT said that Jansen was advised to join by his financial advisers. After HMRC’s probe ‘he repaid in full all the tax relief in relation to this partnership’.