KEN DODD HAS LAST LAUGH WITH THE TAX MAN

“They sent me a self-assessment form the other day. To me! I invented self-assessment.”

Legendary tax-dodging comedian Ken Dodd married Anne Jones, his Partner of 40 years, just 2 days before his death to ensure the tax man could not take up to £2million from her in death duties, thereby having the last laugh.

Forty years ago, Dodd was found not guilty of dodging a £1million tax liability after £300,000 in cash was found hidden in a suitcase under his bed.

He would introduce himself on stage “Good evening, my name is Kenneth Arthur Dodd, Singer, Photographic Playboy and failed Accountant.”

The Liverpudlian’s estate, worth £7.2million, included the home where Dodd was born and raised and where he lived with Anne for decades.

Dodd took advantage of legitimate tax law- transfers between Spouses are Inheritance Tax (“IHT”) exempt- to avoid paying up to £2.6million IHT. This highlights the gap between the ways common law partners and spouses or civil partners are treated when it comes to IHT.