In 2011, Vivienne Westwood Ltd became embroiled in a dispute with Britain’s tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, over the value placed on the designer’s own intellectual property. In 2002, the UK company had sold rights connected to the Vivienne Westwood trademarks to Latimo, a Luxembourg-based company controlled by Westwood. The rights were valued at £840,000, but HMRC later argued that the brand had been substantially undervalued and reassessed it at approximately £2 million. The resulting tax liability was reported as £350,000, plus £144,112 in interest, which the company agreed to pay. The controversy was particularly awkward for Westwood because her public identity was inseparable from political activism, environmentalism, and Green Party principles opposing tax-haven structures. Company accounts also showed that Vivienne Westwood Ltd continued paying Latimo roughly £2 million annually for the right to use Westwood’s name, even though Latimo was controlled by Westwood herself. Westwood maintained that the arrangements were legal, said she was subject to UK tax on all her income, and stated in 2015 that she had restructured her affairs to bring them closer to her political values. The episode was not reported as a criminal tax-evasion conviction, but it exposed the tension between her anti-corporate public image and the offshore intellectual-property structures used by her fashion business.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2010s
Vivienne Westwood’s £2 Million Brand-Valuation Dispute with HMRC
Vivienne Westwood Ltd and Latimo / 2010s
In 2011, Vivienne Westwood Ltd became embroiled in a dispute with Britain’s tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, over the value placed on the designer’s own intellectual property. In 2002, the UK company had sold rights connected to the Vivienne Westwood trademarks to Latimo, a Luxembourg-based company controlled by Westwood. The rights were valued at £840,000, but HMRC later argued that the brand had been substantially undervalued and reassessed it at approximately £2 million. The resulting tax liability was reported as £350,000, plus £144,112 in interest, which the company agreed to pay. The controversy was particularly awkward for Westwood because her public identity was inseparable from political activism, environmentalism, and Green Party principles opposing tax-haven structures. Company accounts also showed that Vivienne Westwood Ltd continued paying Latimo roughly £2 million annually for the right to use Westwood’s name, even though Latimo was controlled by Westwood herself. Westwood maintained that the arrangements were legal, said she was subject to UK tax on all her income, and stated in 2015 that she had restructured her affairs to bring them closer to her political values. The episode was not reported as a criminal tax-evasion conviction, but it exposed the tension between her anti-corporate public image and the offshore intellectual-property structures used by her fashion business.
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