News Article Published:
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Category:
Professional Services
Michael Parkinson has not done a very good job of marketing professional services from his accountants, Vantis, after he pulled out of an investment that they advised him to put money in when he decided it was not ethical.
Accountancy Age reports that the chat show host wrote off an undisclosed sum of investment in a company which was involved in tax relief practices.
Although Parkinson admitted that he originally bought shares in Your Health International, to benefit from tax relief on the advice of Vantis, he wrote off his stake when he found out that the firm could just be a cash shell with no real commercial undertakings and did not claim any tax relief.
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Parkinson's agent Neil Grainger said: "He certainly put his money into Your Health to get tax relief. We were assured it was approved by the Revenue. The minute we realised it wasn't kosher we dropped [it].
"We took the hit. We were very sensitive, extremely upset with the advice we got."
Mr Grainger named Vantis as the sole source of the advice.
Your Health International is now under investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), as although not illegal, practices alledgedly employed by the firm are regarded as abusive.
Being bad-mouthed by such a big celebrity will certainly knock Vantis' reputation and its PR team will have to work very hard to market the company as a trustworthy firm. For its part, Vantis has accused HMRC of being heavy-handed.
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