The Scottish government has come under fire after KPMG was offered up to £1.7m in regional selective assistance funding to help the firm establish a new ‘tax centre of excellence’ in Glasgow’s financial district.
‘The new centre will bring more than 150 jobs to the city in the short term, as it is expected to open this summer, handling tax compliance work from the firm’s 22 other UK offices,’ Scottish Enterprise said. ‘A ten-year lease
has been signed at 123 St Vincent Street, and it’s anticipated that up to another 100 jobs could be created as the project develops.’
KPMG’s decision was a testament to the quality of the Scottish workforce, Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson said. But Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of The Taxpayers’ Alliance, told The Sun: ‘Taxpayers will be
outraged that their money is subsidising a global corporation like KPMG. It’s shocking this unelected quango can bung a massive private company vast sums just to set up an office.’
The financial journalist and broadcaster Ian Fraser claimed that the grant to establish what he called a ‘tax avoidance centre’ was an ‘astonishing waste of public money, a kick in the teeth to ordinary taxpayers, detrimental to the
long-term health of the Scottish economy, and just a positively bizarre thing for [Alex] Salmond … to do.’
Fraser added: ‘Why should we be subsidising KPMG to set up a tax centre whose employees, one assumes, will focus on trying to stay one step ahead of HMRC by devising elaborate schemes to help multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals
avoid tax (or, if not that, then helping higher-paid colleagues to do that, by doing their box-ticking for them)?’
A KPMG spokesman told Tax Journal that the new office would be a processing centre. ‘No advisory or planning work will be done – it’s purely processing and checking that tax returns are compiled properly with all the necessary
supporting evidence and paperwork.’
But the firm’s head of tax and pensions in the UK, Jane McCormick, said in a press release: ‘Creating this dedicated tax compliance team in Glasgow allows our tax professionals across the UK to focus on providing high quality client advice
in an ever-changing fiscal environment.’
The firm added: ‘Recruitment for the new centre will start in mid-April with the firm looking to fill a variety of positions … from a variety of groups such as graduates, new parents returning to work, or more mature professionals looking
for a different career path.’
The Sun reported that a KPMG spokeswoman stressed that ‘the firm will be putting in £2m of its own.’
The Scottish government has come under fire after KPMG was offered up to £1.7m in regional selective assistance funding to help the firm establish a new ‘tax centre of excellence’ in Glasgow’s financial district.
‘The new centre will bring more than 150 jobs to the city in the short term, as it is expected to open this summer, handling tax compliance work from the firm’s 22 other UK offices,’ Scottish Enterprise said. ‘A ten-year lease
has been signed at 123 St Vincent Street, and it’s anticipated that up to another 100 jobs could be created as the project develops.’
KPMG’s decision was a testament to the quality of the Scottish workforce, Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson said. But Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of The Taxpayers’ Alliance, told The Sun: ‘Taxpayers will be
outraged that their money is subsidising a global corporation like KPMG. It’s shocking this unelected quango can bung a massive private company vast sums just to set up an office.’
The financial journalist and broadcaster Ian Fraser claimed that the grant to establish what he called a ‘tax avoidance centre’ was an ‘astonishing waste of public money, a kick in the teeth to ordinary taxpayers, detrimental to the
long-term health of the Scottish economy, and just a positively bizarre thing for [Alex] Salmond … to do.’
Fraser added: ‘Why should we be subsidising KPMG to set up a tax centre whose employees, one assumes, will focus on trying to stay one step ahead of HMRC by devising elaborate schemes to help multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals
avoid tax (or, if not that, then helping higher-paid colleagues to do that, by doing their box-ticking for them)?’
A KPMG spokesman told Tax Journal that the new office would be a processing centre. ‘No advisory or planning work will be done – it’s purely processing and checking that tax returns are compiled properly with all the necessary
supporting evidence and paperwork.’
But the firm’s head of tax and pensions in the UK, Jane McCormick, said in a press release: ‘Creating this dedicated tax compliance team in Glasgow allows our tax professionals across the UK to focus on providing high quality client advice
in an ever-changing fiscal environment.’
The firm added: ‘Recruitment for the new centre will start in mid-April with the firm looking to fill a variety of positions … from a variety of groups such as graduates, new parents returning to work, or more mature professionals looking
for a different career path.’
The Sun reported that a KPMG spokeswoman stressed that ‘the firm will be putting in £2m of its own.’
