Mrs. Brown's Boys' stars embroiled in £2million tax-dodging scandal

Three actors from hit BBC sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys have been accused of being involved in a tax-avoidance scheme, diverting over £2million into Mauritius-based companies.

Paradise Papers’ documents show that Patrick Houlihan, who plays Dermot Brown, Martin Delany, who plays Trevor Brown, and Fiona O’Carroll, who plays Maria Brown, are all involved in the scheme.

The BBC report that an accountant who worked on a similar tax avoidance scheme, such as the one famously used by Jimmy Carr, put the stars in touch with advisers behind the set-up.

Houlihan has since insisted that he didn’t know what the scheme entailed, telling the Irish Times: “You never knew what the f*** was going on”, the actor added that he was worried the deal seemed similar to the arrangement used by comic Jimmy Carr.

HMRC previously investigated Carr for using a Jersey-based tax shelter, which was called “morally wrong” by then Prime-Minister David Cameron, although it is not illegal.

Paradise Papers have provided full details of the arrangement used by the BBC employees, including thousands of emails and documents relating to tax schemes – allowing the stars to save thousands of pounds in income tax.

Brendan O’Carroll, who plays the central character in the BBC One show, which launched in 2011, is not involved in the scheme, but his daughter, Fiona, and her husband, Martin, are.

Two other stars, Amanda Woods and Danny O’Carroll, also signed up to the scheme but they did not use it, according to reports.

Speaking out, Houlihan insisted that he and his co-stars had been seeking to defer their tax bills, not avoid them entirely.

He explained: “I was told the money went to a trust and it wasn’t mine until I received it, and I didn’t have to pay any tax until I got the money.

“I was in control of when I would pay the tax.”

Yahoo Celeb UK have contacted the actors’ reps for comment.

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[ Paradise Papers: how do offshore tax avoidance schemes work? ]