Tax Strategy

Immediate Media Group

Tax Strategy for financial year ending 31 December 2023

 

Introduction

This tax strategy applies to Vancouver Topco Limited, its subsidiary Immediate Media Company Limited, and all companies in the Immediate Media Group (‘the Group’).

We regard the publication of this strategy as complying with the Group’s duty under paragraphs 16(2) and 25(1) of Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016 to publish the Group’s tax strategy in each financial year.

Context

We are a profitable UK group with very limited overseas operations and a responsible approach to business, including our obligations in relation to tax.  We understand that this is expected of us by our customers and our business partners.

Risk/governance

We operate within the Senior Accounting Officer Regime, and our Senior Accounting Officer is the Chief Financial Officer.   We have an in-house group tax manager and indirect tax manager, both with many years of experience, and we use external specialists to advise us on complex areas, to provide additional review of computations where required, and to help ensure we are up to date with tax legislation.  We ensure that people across the organisation understand their responsibilities to comply with tax legislation, and have the requisite knowledge to do so, or access to people with this knowledge.

Attitude of group to tax planning

We do not undertake aggressive tax planning activities or use elaborate structures to minimise tax. We do not seek to avoid tax but to pay the tax due under the laws in each country in which we have business operations, taking account of the provisions of the relevant tax treaties.  We do seek to manage our tax costs carefully, for example by using legitimate tax incentives and reliefs, and reasonable opportunities to obtain tax efficiencies.  We have regard to the potential impact of our tax decisions on our reputation as an organisation and our broader goals.

Level of tax risk accepted

As the large majority of our operations are in the UK, in relatively long-established business lines, we believe the overall level of tax risk in our Group is low. Nonetheless we acknowledge that tax risks will inevitably arise from time to time in relation to our interpretation of tax law.  We seek to minimise these risks through the risk and governance procedures in relation to operational compliance set out above, and through consulting with external experts where there is significant uncertainty or complexity.

Approach to dealing with HMRC

We aim to deal promptly, honestly and openly with HMRC, in both our tax returns and our response to their enquiries, and we believe we have a positive relationship with them.

 

This tax strategy was approved by the Board of Immediate Media Company Limited on behalf of all companies in the Group on 24 November 2022.