Margaret Thatcher the tax snatcher? Mystery of her £6m house with links to THREE tax havens

Financial experts said it could have been a scheme which would help her estate avoid millions of pounds in inheritance taxMargaret Thatcher’s £6m London townhouse is owned by a mysterious company with links to THREE notorious tax havens. 

But because her affairs are shrouded in such extraordinary secrecy it may be impossible to find out. The trail leads to offshore businesses in the British Virgin Islands with links to Liechtenstein and Jersey.

The £6million property she lived in for more than 20 years is owned by Bakeland Property Company, based in the BVI. The company’s official address is a PO Box in a small town in Liechtenstein and it had its original roots in St Helier, Jersey.

Any suggestion of avoiding a £2.4m inheritance tax bill will spark outrage following the row over who is paying for Thatcher’s lavish £10m funeral. 

Records at the government’s Land Registry HQ in Croydon, South London showed that on March 29, 2006, Bakeland paid £2,395,807 for the house at Chester Square in Belgravia, London. It is unclear who they purchased the house from because they were also named on the lease when the house was originally bought on October 30, 1991 for a reported £700,000 in 1991.

There are two leases on the property, which a Land Registry source described as “unusual”. The first one was taken out on October 18, 1991, and lasts until December 25, 2030. The second was taken out on July 29 and runs out in 2055. The latest lease mysteriously stated: “The airspace above the building is excluded from the title.”

Tax campaigner Mr Christensen added: “There are huge financial benefits for an offshore company to own a property or leasehold particulaly in connection with stamp duty and inheritance tax. “A company doesn’t die. If a person dies the property has to be passed on to someone else – obviously this is not the case with a company. 

“This can be very beneficial indeed and can save a large amount of money in taxes which would be othewise due.” The Mirror called the British Virgin Financial Services Commission which confirmed that the company which now owns Thatcher’s house had been based there since August 19, 2005.