Former Glencore oil boss Alex Beard loses £150 million UK tax battle

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – The former chief of Glencore's oil trading division has lost his battle with the UK government over the tax rate on £150 million worth of payments over a period of five years, reported Bloomberg Tuesday.

Alex Beard, who headed Glencore's oil division between 2007 and his retirement in 2019, took up the case against the UK HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over the taxation rate applicable for the £150 million he was paid in the form of dividends between 2011 and 2016.

Beard claimed that the dividends should be classed as capital gains for taxation purposes, which incurred a significantly lower rate than the top-bracket UK income tax level of 45-50% at the time.  

But HMRC contended the payments should be subject to income tax, with Beard's appeal against the initial decision dismissed by the Upper Tribunal last Friday.

An HMRC spokesperson said: "We welcome this decision, which confirms our understanding that these distributions should have been assessed for income tax."

Beard joined Glencore in 1995 from BP and was heading up oil at the time of Glencore's 2011 IPO, making him one of Glencore's 'inner circle' of billionaires after the share offering which was spearheaded by then CEO Ivan Glasenberg.