guitartexan
08-31-09, 02:33 AM
This is the new embassy project just outside London. When will it be awarded? Maybe sooner than we think. Expensive place to live but what a great time! But..:AR15... don't forget these are the same people who released the Lockerbie terrorist over an oil exploration deal. The world is looking for money and they know the best way to get it is to bleed the good old USA. :chair
US resists £50m VAT claim on embassy work
Published: August 28 2009 00:01 | Last updated: August 28 2009 00:01
The US is standing firm against UK demands to pay up to £50m in value added tax on its new embassy building in south London.
The American embassy, at present based in Mayfair, insists that under international protocol it should not have to pay tax on the building project.
Aug-28In the past eight years, the US has escaped paying tax on 68 diplomatic properties that it has built around the world.
“This is very important to the US, it has been raised at the highest levels in Washington – although not quite Obama,” said one Whitehall source.
The Treasury has refused to deviate from its official guidelines that if construction services are carried out on a UK property, they fall within the “VAT place of supply of services” rule.
The Americans want to move from Grosvenor Square to purpose-built premises at Vauxhall, south of the river Thames, by 2016.
The US embassy has issued a statement confirming it is in talks over VAT with the UK government. “It is similar to discussions we have had all over the world where we have built diplomatic properties,” it said.
The dispute comes on the heels of a separate argument over whether US diplomats should pay London’s congestion charge. The Financial Times has learnt that the UK has considered taking legal action over £32m of unpaid charges and fines – including £3.5m from US staff.
The debate hinges over whether the congestion charge is a “tax” or – as Britain argues – a “charge for services”.
However, Transport for London still hopes for a resolution. “We have no desire to see this end in the courts,” it said.
Edward Lister, Conservative leader of Wandsworth borough council, wrote to Alistair Darling, chancellor, on July 31 to seek his intervention in the tax issue, according to Friday’s Property Week magazine.
He asked Mr Darling to allow an exemption: “There is the potential for substantial future economic benefits and tax revenues being lost if the Treasury’s rigid attitude prevails,” the letter said.
For now the two sides are at an impasse. One solution could be for the US to give Britain a similar rebate on building work planned in Washington, according to the Whitehall source.
The Foreign Office said there was no strict rule on whether the UK paid VAT on its overseas operations: “It depends on local circumstances. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.”
US resists £50m VAT claim on embassy work
Published: August 28 2009 00:01 | Last updated: August 28 2009 00:01
The US is standing firm against UK demands to pay up to £50m in value added tax on its new embassy building in south London.
The American embassy, at present based in Mayfair, insists that under international protocol it should not have to pay tax on the building project.
Aug-28In the past eight years, the US has escaped paying tax on 68 diplomatic properties that it has built around the world.
“This is very important to the US, it has been raised at the highest levels in Washington – although not quite Obama,” said one Whitehall source.
The Treasury has refused to deviate from its official guidelines that if construction services are carried out on a UK property, they fall within the “VAT place of supply of services” rule.
The Americans want to move from Grosvenor Square to purpose-built premises at Vauxhall, south of the river Thames, by 2016.
The US embassy has issued a statement confirming it is in talks over VAT with the UK government. “It is similar to discussions we have had all over the world where we have built diplomatic properties,” it said.
The dispute comes on the heels of a separate argument over whether US diplomats should pay London’s congestion charge. The Financial Times has learnt that the UK has considered taking legal action over £32m of unpaid charges and fines – including £3.5m from US staff.
The debate hinges over whether the congestion charge is a “tax” or – as Britain argues – a “charge for services”.
However, Transport for London still hopes for a resolution. “We have no desire to see this end in the courts,” it said.
Edward Lister, Conservative leader of Wandsworth borough council, wrote to Alistair Darling, chancellor, on July 31 to seek his intervention in the tax issue, according to Friday’s Property Week magazine.
He asked Mr Darling to allow an exemption: “There is the potential for substantial future economic benefits and tax revenues being lost if the Treasury’s rigid attitude prevails,” the letter said.
For now the two sides are at an impasse. One solution could be for the US to give Britain a similar rebate on building work planned in Washington, according to the Whitehall source.
The Foreign Office said there was no strict rule on whether the UK paid VAT on its overseas operations: “It depends on local circumstances. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.”