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Mrs Brown’s Boys stars reportedly used offshore accounts to avoid tax

They're the latest celebrities to be named in the leaked documents from Paradise Papers

VIPIRELAND.COM

Three actors from the hit series Mrs Brown’s Boys reportedly used a complicated web of offshore accounts to avoid paying tax on their earnings.

According to documents from the Paradise Papers, Patrick Houlihan, Martin Delany, and Fiona Delany (née O’Carroll) transferred money into companies based in Mauritius, and had the fees sent back as loans.

According to the BBC, the accountant behind a similar tax avoidance scheme used by British comedian Jimmy Carr, put the three actors in touch with advisers behind the measure.

Speaking about the revelations, Paddy Houlihan, who plays Dermot on the show, told the Irish Times, “You never knew what the f**k was going on,” but admitted that he was worried that the arrangement seemed similar to the one Jimmy Carr used.

VIPIRELAND.COM

The production company who pay the actors is owned by Mrs Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll, who is also Fiona Delany’s father.

The company has ensured that they are not involved in any tax avoidance scheme, and paid the actors’ wages directly into a UK-based company’s bank account.

Fiona Delany and her husband and co-star Martin Delany have not yet commented.

The Paradise Papers give an insight into how some of the biggest companies, and the world’s most powerful people, invest offshore.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the investigation involves 13.4 million documents, 94 media partners and more than 120 politicians and world leaders.

The papers also contain details relating to the estate of Queen Elizabeth’s, and revealed how U2 frontman Bono allegedly used an offshore firm to invest in a shopping centre. 

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