I pay the tax I have to - Carr (From Worcester News)

I pay the tax I have to - Carr

12:34pm Wednesday 20th June 2012 in Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Jimmy Carr has broken his silence over claims he dodged tax, insisting: "I pay what I have to and not a penny more."

The funnyman is said to have used an aggressive - but legal - tax-avoidance scheme which enables members to pay income tax rates as low as 1%.

Jimmy, who has famously lampooned fat cat bankers, reportedly protects some £3.3 million a year by channelling cash through Jersey-based company K2 which then returns the money in the form of a loan. This is not subject to income tax.

He spoke out amid claims that members of Take That - Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and their manager Jonathan Wild - invested at least £26 million in another scheme run by Icebreaker Management Services.

Jimmy was confronted over his own financial arrangements during a show in Tunbridge Wells, in Kent.

Challenged by a member of the audience who told him "You don't pay tax", he replied: "I pay what I have to and not a penny more", The Times reported.

It came after he appeared to make light of the furore surrounding his payments to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). He asked: "Got through the papers? I haven't really been through the papers today. The Murdochs are after me..."

Jimmy is said to be one of more than 1,000 beneficiaries who shelter some £168 million from the taxman each year using K2.

Fellow comic Frankie Boyle took to Twitter in apparent condemnation of his alleged tax-avoidance. He wrote: "It's ok to avoid tax providing every time you do a joke about a town being s*** you add 'Partly down to me I'm afraid' under your breath."

HMRC said the K2 scheme was already under investigation.