In a statement on his Twitter account, Mr Carr said he was no longer involved in the K2 tax shelter.
The BBC reports that the Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday called Mr Carr’s use of the scheme “morally wrong”.
The tax scheme is a way of lowering the amount of tax paid. It is legal and Carr made clear in his statement it was fully disclosed to HMRC.
In a series of messages on Twitter Carr said: “I appreciate as a comedian, people will expect me to ‘make light’ of this situation, but I’m not going to in this statement.
“As this is obviously a serious matter. I met with a financial advisor and he said to me ‘Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal’. I said ‘Yes’.”
“I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement.
“Although I’ve been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs).
“I’m no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly. Apologies to everyone. Jimmy Carr.”
More than 1,000 people, including Carr, are thought to be using the Jersey-based K2 scheme, which is said to be sheltering £168m a year from the Treasury.
Under the scheme, an individual resigns from their company and any salary they subsequently receive is paid to an offshore trust and then loaned back to them, which as technically is repayable upon demand is exempt of income tax.
