Gimme (tax) Shelter
Posted: 12 Aug 2006, 19:16
Rolling Stones find satisfaction in offshore tax shelter
By Hugh Davies
(Filed: 02/08/2006)
The Rolling Stones, notoriously averse to paying taxes since the band decamped to the south of France in 1971 to record Exile on Main Street, have recorded one of rock music's biggest financial hits.
With shrewd management, using offshore trusts and companies, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts paid only 1.6 per cent in tax on earnings of £81.3 million last year.
Ronnie Wood, who has a £90 million fortune, part of it from property development, is said to have a different arrangement as he was not a founder member of the band.
Rolling Stones Inc, usually an intensely private and secretive organisation, has had to reveal their finances as the musicians are making their wills and, with a Dutch company involved, Netherlands law insists that details be made public.
The band went to a Netherlands finance house in 1972 after Prince Rupert Zu Loewenstein, a London-based banker who holds an old Bavarian title, became their business adviser at the behest of Sir Mick, who studied at the London School of Economics.
Richards, worth £180 million, told an American business magazine: "The whole business thing is predicated a lot on the tax laws. It's why we rehearse in Canada and not in the US. A lot of our astute moves have been basically keeping up with tax laws: where we go, where not to put it, whether to sit on it or not."
Sir Mick, worth £205 million, recalled that in the mid-1960s, with sales of 10 million singles including Satisfaction and five million albums, the band was still living hand to mouth.
"The only people who earned money were the Beatles because they sold so many records," he said. "I'll never forget the deals we did in the 60s, which were just terrible. All I know from business I've picked up on the way. I never really studied business at school. I kind of wish I had, kind of, but how boring is that?"
Since 1989 the Stones have earned more than £1.2 billion. They have made £79.7 million so far from their current "A Bigger Bang" world tour, with ticket prices of up to £150.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.
By Hugh Davies
(Filed: 02/08/2006)
The Rolling Stones, notoriously averse to paying taxes since the band decamped to the south of France in 1971 to record Exile on Main Street, have recorded one of rock music's biggest financial hits.
With shrewd management, using offshore trusts and companies, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts paid only 1.6 per cent in tax on earnings of £81.3 million last year.
Ronnie Wood, who has a £90 million fortune, part of it from property development, is said to have a different arrangement as he was not a founder member of the band.
Rolling Stones Inc, usually an intensely private and secretive organisation, has had to reveal their finances as the musicians are making their wills and, with a Dutch company involved, Netherlands law insists that details be made public.
The band went to a Netherlands finance house in 1972 after Prince Rupert Zu Loewenstein, a London-based banker who holds an old Bavarian title, became their business adviser at the behest of Sir Mick, who studied at the London School of Economics.
Richards, worth £180 million, told an American business magazine: "The whole business thing is predicated a lot on the tax laws. It's why we rehearse in Canada and not in the US. A lot of our astute moves have been basically keeping up with tax laws: where we go, where not to put it, whether to sit on it or not."
Sir Mick, worth £205 million, recalled that in the mid-1960s, with sales of 10 million singles including Satisfaction and five million albums, the band was still living hand to mouth.
"The only people who earned money were the Beatles because they sold so many records," he said. "I'll never forget the deals we did in the 60s, which were just terrible. All I know from business I've picked up on the way. I never really studied business at school. I kind of wish I had, kind of, but how boring is that?"
Since 1989 the Stones have earned more than £1.2 billion. They have made £79.7 million so far from their current "A Bigger Bang" world tour, with ticket prices of up to £150.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.
! Wonder why you don't see more rockstars out there?
