{"id":60233,"date":"2026-04-12T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/?p=60233"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:41:41","slug":"richard-tice-quidnet-tax-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/richard-tice-quidnet-tax-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform UK&#8217;s Richard Tice Faces Scrutiny Over Unpaid Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style='background:#f7fafc;padding:15px;'>\n<p><strong>Quick Read<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Richard Tice&#8217;s company, Quidnet REIT, allegedly failed to withhold \u00a3120,000 in mandatory taxes between 2020 and 2022.<\/li>\n<li>Tax experts state that personal tax payments by Tice do not override the company&#8217;s legal obligation to withhold tax at the source.<\/li>\n<li>The failure to follow standard REIT procedures could expose Tice&#8217;s company to significant HMRC penalties and interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>LONDON (Azat TV) \u2013<\/b> Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK and Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness, is facing mounting pressure following allegations that his property company, Quidnet REIT Limited, failed to withhold approximately \u00a3120,000 in mandatory taxes from dividend payments. The findings, published by <i>Tax Policy Associates<\/i>, suggest that the company bypassed legal requirements to remit 20% withholding tax on Property Income Distributions (PIDs) issued to Tice and his offshore trust between 2020 and 2022.<\/p>\n<h2>The Quidnet REIT Tax Compliance Gap<\/h2>\n<p>As a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Quidnet was legally obligated to withhold basic rate income tax from dividend distributions made to its shareholders. According to the analysis, the firm issued roughly \u00a3600,000 in dividends to Tice and the RJS Tice Family Settlement, a Jersey-based trust, without the required 20% deduction. Under UK tax law, REITs function as investment vehicles where profits are exempt from corporation tax at the company level, provided that the tax liability is collected via withholding at the point of distribution to investors.<\/p>\n<h2>Tice\u2019s Response and Legal Obligations<\/h2>\n<p>Tice has disputed the characterization of the failure, suggesting the issue is a technicality because he personally paid income tax on the dividends received. However, tax experts argue that personal tax payments do not absolve a company of its statutory duty to withhold funds at the source. The law does not permit REITs to defer these obligations, regardless of whether the ultimate beneficiary eventually settles their own tax liabilities. HMRC regulations categorize such oversights as potential instances of carelessness, which could leave the company liable for the original tax amount plus interest and penalties of up to 30%.<\/p>\n<h2>Broader Implications for Reform UK<\/h2>\n<p>The disclosure comes at a sensitive time for the Reform UK party, which has positioned itself as a champion of fiscal responsibility and transparency. While there is no evidence of tax evasion\u2014a criminal act involving dishonesty\u2014the failure to adhere to standard REIT withholding procedures raises questions about the oversight of Tice&#8217;s business interests. The report notes that the figures identified in the latest analysis exceed those previously reported by <i>The Sunday Times<\/i>, highlighting a systemic failure to account for these tax payments in the company\u2019s cash flow statements.<\/p>\n<p><em>The findings underscore a significant gap between the operational reality of Quidnet REIT and the strict regulatory framework governing investment funds, suggesting that even technical failures in withholding protocols can result in substantial financial liabilities for high-profile political figures.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice is under fire as analysis reveals his property company, Quidnet REIT, allegedly failed to withhold \u00a3120,000 in required dividend taxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow5Nm1DA:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[54947,11256,54946,4514,11258],"class_list":["post-60233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-quidnet-reit","tag-reform-uk","tag-richard-tice","tag-tax-evasion","tag-uk-politics"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/richard-tice-portrait.jpg","_embedded":{"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":-1,"source_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/richard-tice-portrait.jpg","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60268,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233\/revisions\/60268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}