And finally…if you can’t beat em…

Business in a small Welsh town people are joining forces to use the same accountancy loopholes used by huge multinationals to avoid the taxman as part of a BBC experiment.

The traders of Crickhowell will move their entire town’s economy offshore for the broadcaster’s documentary which follows the alliance of shopkeepers and traders in the picturesque Powys town to uncover the techniques multinationals employ to avoid paying tax and try to apply them to their very own DIY tax plan.

The study comes after campaigners in the town united to prevent their local pub being sold to a supermarket.

The Corn Exchange Community Investment Group (CECIG) has been trying to raise £500,000 to buy the former pub in Crickhowell, Powys, from current owner, the pub and bar operator Punch Taverns.

After months of fundraising and campaigning, the group of nearly 180 people, who did not want a national chain moving into the town, secured a deal on the site.

The BBC programme, which is to be broadcast next year, aims to unravel the complex tax operations of some of the biggest companies in the UK and find if it is possible for local businesses in a small Welsh town to turn the tables by setting up their own similar arrangements.

Presented by Heydon Prowse, co-presenter of BBC Three’s The Revolution Will Be Televised, The Town That Went Offshore on BBC Two sees the Crickhowell group use the techniques to put pressure on HMRC and the government to close tax loopholes and stamp out tax avoidance.

A coffee shop owner, called Steve, tells the programme: “I have always paid every penny of tax I owe, and I don’t object to that. What I object to is paying my full tax when my big name competitors are doing the damnedest to dodge theirs.”

Jo Carthew, who runs Crickhowell’s Black Mountain Smokery, in the town, told the Independent newspaper: “We were shocked to discover that the revenue generated by hard-working employees in these British high street chains isn’t declared. We do want to pay our taxes because we all use local schools and hospitals but we want a change of law so everyone pays their fair share.”

She said the traders had a “very good meeting” and added: “It’s a threat to the Government because if they don’t act this could be rolled out to every town. Everything we have proposed is legal.”

Gian Quaglieni, commissioning executive for BBC Current Affairs, said: “Heydon brings his usual energetic, satirical edge to this revealing experiment that attempts to make sense of the global tax affairs of some corporations.

“Through the eyes of Crickhowell residents, it looks at whether the score can be evened up for their local businesses.”