Margaret Thatcher tax shock: £12m mansion where she saw out her days registered in TAX HAVEN
▻http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-tax-shock-12m-2866929
Flag-waving former PM Margaret Thatcher may have avoided millions in inheritance tax by keeping a chunk of her fortune offshore.
A copy of Tory Baroness Thatcher’s will shows she left a £4.7million estate to be shared among family members.
But the £12million Central London mansion where the Iron Lady spent the last years of her life is owned by an anonymous trust registered in the British Virgin Islands – a notorious tax haven.
Through this arrangement she could have avoided up to £5million in inheritance tax – the 40% that would have been due if it was owned by a UK individual.
In the will, made in 1997, Thatcher intended to leave £1million to husband Sir Denis, but he died in 2003 – 10 years before her. Instead, her estate is split between her family, with a third each going to her twins Mark and Carol, and the remaining third shared by her grandchildren when they reach 25.
Expert Richard Murphy, of Tax Research, said: “It has always been strange that Margaret Thatcher, that most British of prime ministers, enjoyed the benefits of a property registered in the British Virgin Islands.
"It is possible that Denis Thatcher set up the trust or other offshore arrangements in order to save tax.”
Ex-Tory leader Thatcher died in April aged 87 following a stroke and had her ceremonial funeral funded by the taxpayer.