Richard Tice is facing calls to resign as Reform’s deputy leader following reports he failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax.
Over the weekend, an investigation from the Sunday Times alleged that Tice failed to pay £98,000 in corporation tax to the benefit of his investment company, which in turn made donations to Reform UK.
The publication reported that Tice ran four shell companies that allegedly did not pay any tax on profits between 2020 and 2022.
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These companies had been set up to receive dividends from Tice’s property investment firm Quidnet and pass the money to their parent company, the Times said.
Tisun Investments Ltd then reportedly transferred £1,113,000 to Reform UK between March 2020 and May 2022.
Following the report, Tice posted a lengthy statement on X, in which he said: “A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors. Naturally I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course I will pay what is owed – be that more or less.”
But he is facing calls to resign following the story, which is the latest tax controversy to plague the Reform UK deputy leader.
Tice is also facing accusations of hypocrisy given how keen he was for Angela Rayner to resign over failing to pay tax last year.
Labour Party chair Anna Turley has said Tice’s “credibility is in tatters,” and called on Reform leader Nigel Farage to urgently explain why the multi-millionaire remains his second-in-command.
She continued: “This is a major scandal that’s not going away. Tice has called for others to resign over tax errors that involved less money than this.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have reported Tice to HMRC over the reported failure to pay the corporation tax.
In a letter, deputy leader leader Daisy Cooper wrote: “I urge HMRC to investigate these claims to establish whether there has been a failure to account for tax, whether any such failure constitutes a deliberate attempt to avoid tax liability, and whether the necessary penalties and interest have been, or should be applied.”
She added: “It is essential that the public has confidence that political leaders are meeting their own tax obligations fully and transparently.”