A number of celebrities, including Mr Carr, Mr Barlow and bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald, as well as actor Mel Gibson, were reported in 2012 to have put cash in the Island scheme for tax purposes.
An investigation by The Times newspaper revealed that the K2 scheme, which Mr Carr used, had a total of about £3.3 million put into it. The then-UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, publicly criticised the comedian.
Speaking on a chat show with fellow comedian John Bishop, Mr Carr said that he became the face of the controversy due to the popularity of some of the others accused of tax avoidance.
The three remaining members of Take That, who performed in Jersey this weekend for the Durrell Rainforest Ball, and their manager were exposed for putting millions of pounds into a tax shelter. Mr Carr said: ‘It was a scandal that needed to happen and I happened to be the face of it. Gary Barlow was the same week but it was a different thing – he’s a national treasure. I didn’t write Back For Good.’
The 44-year-old comedian added that he did not know what he had been signing up to with the K2 scheme. ‘Suddenly you’re on the front page of the paper and it makes you very grateful for what you’ve got. David Cameron was at the G20 conference and came out and did a press conference about it, talking about me and my personal tax avoidance which you’re not really meant to do as the Prime Minister.
‘But looking at it now – I’ve still got my job.’ Mr Carr has since paid back the tax: ‘I made a mistake, clearly, and I paid it all.’
