{"id":208845,"date":"2025-06-23T23:02:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208845\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T23:02:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:02:23","slug":"glastonbury-founder-could-avoid-80m-in-inheritance-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208845\/","title":{"rendered":"Glastonbury founder could avoid \u00a380m in inheritance tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owner of Glastonbury festival has transferred most of his financial interest in the event to his daughter and a family trust, potentially avoiding a huge inheritance tax bill.<\/p>\n

Sir Michael Eavis, 89, gave his entire shareholding in Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd, the operational company responsible for running the festival and selling tickets, to his daughter Emily, 45, in October.<\/p>\n

Last year the company sold 210,000 tickets<\/a> to the event at about \u00a3300 each. Pre-tax profits doubled to nearly \u00a36 million after revenues jumped 20 per cent to \u00a368 million.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The young Emily Eavis with her father<\/p>\n

At the same time, Eavis, who has long supported the Labour Party<\/a> and in 2017 endorsed Jeremy Corbyn, describing him as \u201cthe hero of the hour\u201d, also transferred three quarters of the shares he owns in the separate holding company, Glastonbury Festivals Limited, to a trust.<\/p>\n

This company, which was set up in 1992, owns the rights to the festival and all trademarks, and distributes most of the profits generated by the operating company to charities, such as Oxfam, Greenpeace, and WaterAid.<\/p>\n

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced in the budget that from April next year, family businesses would be subject to an effective inheritance tax rate of 20 per cent on their value above \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n

The value of Glastonbury, which starts on Wednesday, is hard to assess given its unique status and charitable ethos. But experts believe it could be worth anything from \u00a3150 to \u00a3400 million.<\/p>\n

\"Dua<\/p>\n

Dua Lipa was one of last year\u2019s Pyramid stage headliners<\/p>\n

JOE MAHER\/GETTY<\/p>\n

By transferring the company that runs the festival to his daughter<\/a>, and by transferring most of the shares in the holding company to a family trust, Eavis could therefore potentially save nearly \u00a380 million in inheritance tax<\/a> (IHT).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Glastonbury 2025 TV Guide: How to watch the festival live from home<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Glastonbury Festival described such a valuation as \u201cwildly speculative\u201d, adding that it and Michael Eavis \u201chave always been, and will always be, happy to pay their due tax\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shares in a company given as a gift to a family member are not subject to IHT provided that the person making the gift survives for seven years, under a rule known as potentially exempt transfers. If the person making the gift survives three years, the level of IHT begins to fall. <\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Tents in the glamping fields are ready for this year\u2019s festival, which starts on Wednesday<\/p>\n

GRAHAM HUNT\/ALAMY<\/p>\n

Placing shares in a trust can also remove them from the valuation of an estate at death, potentially reducing IHT liability, although there may be tax charges due at the point the assets are transferred and every decade thereafter, depending on what reliefs may apply.<\/p>\n

Moving shares into a trust also enables a gradual transition of control while maintaining structured governance and avoiding large estate transfers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Fence jumpers, welcome to \u2018Glastonbury jail\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

During his time as Labour leader, Corbyn supported increases in IHT as part of a broader agenda to redistribute wealth and reduce inequality. He also spoke out against trusts, emphasising the need for greater transparency and increased regulation.<\/p>\n

In 2017 Eavis invited Corbyn<\/a> to Glastonbury, allowing him to speak to tens of thousands of festivalgoers at the main Pyramid stage on the Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Financial experts suggested that Eavis may have decided to transfer the assets after tax advisers told him that HM Revenue & Customs would not accept a valuation of his companies for IHT purposes based upon the festival having some \u201cquasi-charitable position\u201d. While Glastonbury<\/a> operates with a strong charitable ethos \u2014 last year it gave more than \u00a35.9 million to good causes \u2014 it remains a private company and is not a charity, so HMRC is likely to value it as such when considering an IHT bill.<\/p>\n

\"Festival-goers<\/p>\n

Fewer tickets have been sold this year after concerns that the festival was becoming overcrowded<\/p>\n

LEON NEAL\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/p>\n

The crowd watch Cyndi Lauper performing last year<\/p>\n

MATT CROSSICK\/EMPICS\/ALAMY<\/p>\n

One source familiar with the situation, said: \u201cThe valuation question is an interesting one. Glastonbury is a global brand. The potential to commercialise is huge through international franchising, etc. It is exactly the sort of company that a Sony or Universal Music would buy. It may be that a \u00a3400 million valuation is possibly on the low side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Glastonbury\u2019s glamping arms race features heli-pads and hot tubs<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

There is no suggestion that the Eavis family had advance knowledge of the chancellor\u2019s decision to impose death duties on family-owned businesses but there was intense speculation that Reeves would make such a move before it was announced.<\/p>\n

The Eavis family is also facing a large IHT bill on Worthy Farm, the land on which the festival is held each year. The land is owned through a third company but the family will become liable for an effective 20 per cent IHT rate on its value above \u00a31 million when Eavis dies because of the Reeves\u2019 decision to bring farms into the scope of the tax in the autumn budget. <\/p>\n

\"Dancers<\/p>\n

Glastonbury features about 3,000 performances across over 80 stages, plus impromptu entertainment around the site<\/p>\n

LEON NEAL\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Carhenge was among last year\u2019s attractions<\/p>\n

LUKE BRENNAN\/REDFERNS<\/p>\n

Given present market valuations and the size of Worthy Farm, which is approximately 1,500 acres (607 hectares), the land could be worth about \u00a313.5 million, meaning a bill of about \u00a32.5 million.<\/p>\n

However, Eavis has made no efforts to mitigate against this tax bill. The farm is still majority owned by him with about a fifth split among his children.<\/p>\n

Glastonbury said: \u201cWith his 90th birthday approaching, Michael Eavis has proceeded with his long-held plan to pass control of the festival over to his daughter, Emily. The past few years have already seen Emily take over the day-to-day organisation of the event, and this latest change was simply another part of that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that the festival will \u201cnever be sold\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of Glastonbury festival has transferred most of his financial interest in the event to his daughter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,2499,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-208845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114735175856847524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}