Goldman Sachs 'considering' tax avoidance scheme for employees.

estebanrey · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:46

It's January, which is normally bonus payout time for Goldman Sachs bankers. But the company is 'considering' holding out paying them until after April 6th.

Why? Well that's when the 50p top rate of tax gets reduced to 45p meaning a banker on a 'modest' bonus of £1 million stands to gain nearly £50k by delaying the payment for a few months.

This is a strange move considering the company itself won't benefit at all by doing this, only it's employees will.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/...jan/14/george-osborne-goldman-sachs-bonus-tax

So to ask the question posed in the article above, sensible tax planning or a brazen gaming of the system?

semi-pro waster · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:51

estebanrey said:
This is a strange move considering the company itself won't benefit at all by doing this, only it's employees will.

It doesn't seem that strange, if it's not going to cost the company money (and you potentially can argue about keeping the interest for an extra few days giving them a small added incentive) and it keeps the employees happier then it seems like a shrewd business move. However they'd need to consider the risks regarding how it will appear to the outside world and to the government especially.

I don't know if it's necessarily an either/or - it appears that it can be both sensible tax planning from one point of view and a brazen gaming of the system from another.

spoffle · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:53

Happy employees mean happy workers, it's hardly a surprise

StriderX · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:55

Its Goldman Sachs, they practically created the current economy, they do this crap in their sleep.

Theophany · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:57

estebanrey said:
So to ask the question posed in the article above, sensible tax planning or a brazen gaming of the system?

It would be straight up retarded to not do this. Goldman have no necessity to pay bonuses before the tax rate change and doing so is just more money to be ****ed up the wall by the government.

The FSA, the FSCS, the government, they're all taking a slice of the action either way. If you can avoid getting spooge on your face after they've bent you over the barrel, you may as well save what little pride you have left.

Danthus · 14 Jan 2013 at 19:59

It is a private company, they do do as they please.

Edrof · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:00

Theophany said:
If you can avoid getting spooge on your face after they've bent you over the barrel, you may as well save what little pride you have left.

This advice is good for most of Life's situations. Especially when actually bent over an actual barrel.

King Damager · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:01

Yeah, this actually isn't too uncommon from my understanding (all around the world)

kd

Theophany · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:02

Edrof said:
This advice is good for most of Life's situations. Especially when actually bent over an actual barrel.

Rules to live your life by brah.

Fubsy · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:02

spoffle said:
Happy employees mean happy workers, it's hardly a surprise

Should they not be happy enough with the obscene amounts they get as a bonus in the first place?

The money thrown around in some circles of society while others struggle to get by is sickening.

[FnG]magnolia · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:03

It seems to make a tremendous amount of sense to me.

This is a strange move considering the company itself won't benefit at all by doing this, only it's employees will.

The company will benefit due to the second part of your sentence.

e :

Fubsy said:
Should they not be happy enough with the obscene amounts they get as a bonus in the first place?

Hey Fubsy, I have two amounts of money that I can give you. Would you like the $100k or the $110k? Let me know.

sigma · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:04

Why would they not do this?

weringo · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:06

Hey OP how many donations did you make to HMRC last year?

Burnsy2023 · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:07

sigma said:
Why would they not do this?

The PR consequences for one.

spoffle · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:09

Fubsy said:
Should they not be happy enough with the obscene amounts they get as a bonus in the first place?

The money thrown around in some circles of society while others struggle to get by is sickening.

In the real world, it doesn't really work like that, keep on going though if it makes you feel better.

sigma · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:11

Burnsy2023 said:
The PR consequences for one.

I doubt they care. Especially given the past few years of hate.

Fubsy said:
Should they not be happy enough with the obscene amounts they get as a bonus in the first place?

The money thrown around in some circles of society while others struggle to get by is sickening.

The banking industry contains some of the sharpest minds in the world - they wouldn't be there if they weren't continually pushing for more.

What's to say they're not happy?

We're all rich compared to the majority of the world's population. I don't hear of many people paying more tax for the sake of it.

Fubsy · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:13

Apologies guys, I forgot that the whole world works on the basis of greed. Rookie mistake.

sigma · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:15

Fubsy said:
Apologies guys, I forgot that the whole world works on the basis of greed. Rookie mistake.

It's human nature - doesn't make it wrong or right. You can apply it to most aspects of life.

Theophany · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:19

Fubsy said:
Apologies guys, I forgot that the whole world works on the basis of greed. Rookie mistake.

Well that is how investment banking works, seems a bit daft to entertain the idea that they'd change their ways.

jsmoke · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:20

OldCoals said:
It is a private company, they do do as they please.

Public since 2008.