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George Osborne tax return shows Chancellor earned more than £200,000 in a year

Chancellor made £44,647 dividends from family wallpaper company - which paid no corporation tax for seven years

Charlie Cooper
Whitehall Correspondent
Monday 11 April 2016 16:05 BST
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(Getty Images)

George Osborne received a £40,000 payout from his family's wallpaper company, a summary of his tax return has revealed, despite it having paid no coporation tax for seven years.

The Chancellor had a total taxable income of £198,738 in 2014/15, including £44,647 in the form of dividends from Osborne & Little, the wallpaper firm co-founded by his father, Sir Peter Osborne.

Mr Osborne made the details public amid public pressure for tax transparency from senior politicians in the wake of the Panama Papers leaks.

However, he faced immediate questions over his decision to publish just one year’s tax information. David Cameron has published tax returns dating from 2009 to 2015.

A summary of Mr Osborne’s tax affairs for 2014/15 published by the Treasury shows he earned £44,647 from dividends in his family’s wallpaper company, on top of his £120,526 salary as an MP and Chancellor of the Exchquer.

He also made £33,562 from his half of the rental income he and his wife make from their London home.

Mr Osborne paid £72,210 of income tax on a total income of £198,738.

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His dividend income comes from shares in Osborne and Little Group Ltd, a company founded by his father which manufactures wallpapers and fabrics. The company is based and is resident in the UK.

The summary of Mr Osborne’s tax affairs states: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer had no other sources of income or capital gains, from either the UK or overseas and has no offshore interests in shares or anything else.”

The summary also showed that Mr Osborne earned just £3 from bank interest in 2014/15.

It comes after it emerged in February that Osborne and Little Group Ltd had not paid any corporation tax for the last seven years.

Analysis showed it paid out dividends worth £335,000 to shareholders including the Chancellor in May 2014.

It had paid no UK corporation tax since 2008, partly due to the business rolling over losses from previous years and deferring tax payments.

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