Reform UK deputy leader faced tax row over £91,000 dividend shortfall

Richard Tice’s property company has been accused of failing to pay £91,000 in tax on dividends, a claim that has sharpened questions over Reform UK’s standards as pressure grows on Nigel Farage to stand by his deputy.

The company, Quidnet REIT Limited, is a UK real estate investment trust owned by Tice. Companies House lists it as active, incorporated on 5 August 2015, with a registered office at 24 Berkeley Square, London. Tax Policy Associates said the company paid around £600,000 in dividends to Tice and an offshore trust between 2020 and 2022, and estimated that about £120,000 should have been withheld in tax on those payments.

The dispute turns on how the UK REIT regime works. HMRC guidance says real estate investment trusts do not pay corporation tax on qualifying property income, but they must withhold basic-rate income tax on property income dividends paid to certain shareholders. HMRC also says UK-REIT property income dividends carry a tax credit, meaning basic-rate taxpayers have no further liability because the tax deducted settles the bill in full.

Reform UK dismissed the row as a "minor administrative error" and a "non story." A Reform UK spokesperson said Tice had paid all tax due and that any company underpayment was offset by his personal tax payments. Tice rejected the allegations as a "smear," insisting HMRC received the correct amount of tax due.

The episode has landed at an awkward moment for Reform, which has built much of its message around low tax, fiscal discipline and a challenge to the political establishment. Opponents have seized on the case as evidence of hypocrisy, arguing that a party that polices others on standards cannot wave away a six-figure dividend shortfall as a paperwork slip.

The row has also intensified scrutiny of Farage’s leadership judgment. The Independent reported that he was facing increasing pressure to sack Tice amid anger over the tax affairs, turning what began as a technical dispute over dividend withholding into a test of accountability at the top of Reform UK.