Hippie farmer Guy Singh-Watson spends his time calling for higher taxes with the sanctimonious pressure group Patriotic Millionaires UK. Meanwhile, Singh-Watson has been selling off his company, Riverford Organics, to an employee-ownership trust (EOT) since 2018, for which he received no small amount of fawning admiration. Companies House records revealed that the EOT was controlled by… Singh-Watson himself, until June this year.

He said: “After much consideration and despite the example set by many politicians … I decided to make no attempts to avoid tax liability on the sale of the shares… I will pay my tax as others who can’t afford creative accountants do”. Noble…

The only problem with Singh-Watson’s posturing is that if you sell a company to an EOT – as opposed to any other type of employee group – then usually no capital gains tax is paid on the sale.

In 2020 Riverford’s finance director bragged about the strategy: 

“Aside from the ethical benefits, there are tax advantages for the seller and the employees. No capital gains, income or inheritance tax liabilities should arise on the disposal of a controlling interest in a company to an employee ownership trust. Employees, in turn, receive a tax-free bonus at the end of each year.”

Very patriotic indeed…