xandreu wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 7:52 am I know someone who barely paid a penny in tax for their entire working life. (working in the UK) Always self employed, somehow stayed under the radar for his entire career, and he seemed to just disappear from the books.

When it came to him retiring and having to claim a pension, he was clearly worried about what was going to happen to him. He had no private pension, and therefore had to make himself known to the authorities, who would work out that he's not made a single contribution towards tax or NI for his whole life.

Somehow, don't ask me how, they decided not to take action against him, probably because he was too old and it wouldn't have been 'in the public interest', but told him he wasn't eligible for a state pension, as he'd made no contributions. He then got some legal advice, and discovered there is a law which says there is a bare minimum amount that all citizens are expected to be in receipt of, regardless of their circumstances, which he ended up getting, and was worth almost what is pension would have been anyway.

There are ways and means around most things if you look hard enough.