It was still dark when the private jet began its descent. Inside, its decor was sumptuous, the black leather seats piped with red, but outside rain was falling and the temperature on the ground below was a bracing 2C. The date was 21 January 2013, and the island that the plane was heading towards hadn't yet woken up. The candy-red Challenger 605 aircraft carried the registration G-LCDH - the initials of Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, the World Championship-winning Formula One driver. The previous month, Hamilton had flown on the jet with his then-girlfriend, the former Pussycat Dolls singer turned X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger, and their families, to Hawaii for a Christmas holiday. The aircraft’s latest destination wasn’t so celebrated as a hang-out of the rich and famous.

It wasn't Monaco or Miami Beach. It wasn’t Dubai. It wasn’t even the Channel Islands. It was the Isle of Man, the Crown Dependency between Ireland and Great Britain best known for its tail-less cats and its motorcycle race. But the plane wasn’t going to stick around for long. At 06:15 it landed. To one side of the runway were the waves of the Irish Sea. To the other was Ronaldsway Airport’s modest cream-and-blue Art Deco terminal building. Despite the early hour, someone was waiting for the jet - an Isle of Man customs official. Hamilton’s advisers had paid a £60 fee for the privilege of getting the official there early to stamp a form that showed VAT had been paid in full.

In December 2012, Stealth Aviation Limited - a company of Hamilton’s in the British Virgin Islands - paid $26,817,260 for the jet. Hamilton’s social media accounts show he used it for holidays and other personal jaunts, not only business. On Instagram, he posted several photographs - including one showing his bulldogs, Roscoe and Coco, on board. He was especially proud of its distinctive colour scheme. “Every time I’m at the airport you see these really sad, old white planes, with the saddest stripe down the side,” he told US talk show host Jimmy Kimmell in 2015. “If I get a plane, I’m going to pimp it out.” According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Hamilton has a £131m fortune. Normally, companies that use planes for business reasons are entitled to a VAT refund, but private individuals are not. According to emails held by Appleby, the law firm at the centre of the Paradise Papers leak, Appleby formed a VAT-registered leasing business on the Isle of Man for Lewis Hamilton.

The new company, Stealth (IOM) Limited, leased the jet from Hamilton's British Virgin Islands company, Stealth Aviation Limited, and imported it into the Isle of Man. It was then leased again to a UK jet management company that provided Hamilton with a crew and other services - and which leased it back to Lewis Hamilton and his Guernsey company, BRV Limited. Because of these “commercial” transactions, Hamilton’s advisers were able to arrange a 100% VAT refund when the plane landed at Ronaldsway. The £3.3m VAT bill was paid on Hamilton’s behalf by an Isle of Man accountancy firm. So when the aircraft landed, the customs official attending out of hours stamped a VAT-paid form to be kept on board the aircraft. This granted the aircraft “full and free circulation” in the EU. Leasing documents in the Paradise Papers show that Hamilton’s company, BRV Limited, expected to use the plane two-thirds of the time, with him signed up personally to use the other third. EU and UK VAT rules state that refunds should not be granted in relation to private use of aircraft – but Hamilton got a full refund. Hamilton wasn't alone in doing this. More than 50 others have imported planes to the Isle of Man with Appleby’s help. In total, the Isle of Man has refunded more than £790m to 231 aircraft leasing companies that have imported jets. And Paradise Papers documents suggest Lewis Hamilton is far from the only super-rich visitor to get a VAT refund on jets they used for pleasure as well as work. Lawyers acting for Lewis Hamilton say the driver has a “set of professionals in place who run most aspects of his business operations and that no subterfuge or improper levels of secrecy had been put in place". In a statement, they say Stealth (IOM) Limited was formed to run a leasing business and hire the aircraft on a long-term basis at a commercial rate. They add that the company made all necessary disclosures to Isle of Man officials, who approved the approach.