Boyle hits back over tax claims

Comedian Frankie Boyle has come out fighting over his tax arrangements after they were called into question.

The Daily Mail said the entertainer "could have avoided paying nearly £900,000 tax through the voluntary liquidation of his firm last year".

Noting that Boyle had lampooned fellow comic Jimmy Carr after Carr hit the headlines recently for using a complex scheme to reduce his tax payments, the newspaper said Boyle may also be the beneficiary of sharp - but entirely legal - accountancy practices on the millions he has earned through TV shows, tours, DVDs and book sales.

It said that by winding up Traskor Productions Limited, of which he was sole director and shareholder, he may have been able to pay a tax rate of just 10%, rather than 50% if he had taken money out as dividends or income.

This is because he could have been entitled to 'entrepreneur' tax relief, saving him £880,762, the newspaper said.

Boyle has responded with a statement on Twitter in which he said he was certain he paid more tax than most people in showbusiness and the Cabinet.

He wrote: "From 2007 I have paid £2.7 million in tax and this equates to just under 40% of my income. There's a lot of things people do to avoid paying tax and I don't do any of them.

"I wound my company up for legal reasons separate from tax and my accountant applied for tax relief on this. This tax relief is approximately half of the tax saving the Mail quoted in its article today. I am certain I pay more tax than most people in show business and the cabinet."

Boyle was critical of Carr in the wake of the row over his tax affairs, tweeting: "It's ok to avoid tax providing every time you do a joke about a town being s*** you add 'Partly down to me I'm afraid' under your breath."

Carr's tax arrangements, which were disclosed in The Times, were criticised by Prime Minister David Cameron, who described them as "straightforward tax avoidance". Carr issued a statement apologising for his actions, saying he had "made a terrible error of judgment".