HMRC's Football Mania

A spokesperson from HMRC is quoted by Citywire:

"HMRC carefully scrutinises the individual image rights arrangements between football clubs and their players to make sure the right tax is being paid in the UK.

We are carrying out visits to every Premier League club and most football league clubs, along with their players. We're currently making enquiries into 198 footballers, 44 football clubs and 29 agents for a range of issues, including image rights abuse."

All very well and jolly, maybe. However, avoidance is not illegal and greater rewards would be had from pursuing evasion as noted last week.


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



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HMRC Loses Appeal Against Spurs

Football is clearly becoming a wee fetish of HMRC. AccountancyAge reports that the Upper Tribunal has rejected an appeal from HMRC in a case relating to the taxation of termination payments made to football player employees of Tottenham Hotspur Limited.

In 2016, the First-Tier Tribunal ruled that certain termination payments made to two players contracted to the football club – Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch – were not taxable as earnings from their employment. The tribunal also found that the payments were not subject to national insurance contributions (NICs).

Palacios and Crouch had received lump sum payments on early termination of their employment contracts, with both players joining Stoke City in a transfer deal. Palacios received £900,000 once the transfer was made, plus an additional £510,000 paid on 15 August 2012.

Crouch agreed a deal with Tottenham Hotspur under which he received a “termination payment” of £3m in three equal instalments following the termination of his employment with the club on 31 August 2011.

The Upper Tribunal said that the question was whether the payments were to be treated as general “earnings from employment” or an “emolument of the employment”, or as payment received in connection with the termination of employment. The Tribunal said that it was “common ground” that if the payments were “from an employment”, then the first £30,000 would be subject to tax, and the payment would be subject to NICs.

HMRC had argued that the payments “represented earnings from the players’ employments” and were therefore subject to income tax and NICs.

Tottenham appealed HMRC’s decision in 2015, advocating that the payments “represented compensation for the early termination of the players’ contracts”, and were therefore not “from” employment.

The Upper Tribunal upheld the decision of the First-Tier Tribunal. It said that there was a distinction between cases where “the entire contract of employment is abrogated in exchange for the termination payment” and cases where “the payment is made in pursuance of a pre-existing obligation to make such a payment arising under a contract of employment”. Both the cases of Palacios and Crouch “fell squarely” into the first category, the Tribunal said.

An HMRC spokesperson said that the Revenue believed it had applied the correct tax treatment to the payments and was pursuing its appeal of the First-tier Tribunal’s decision.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC Visits Oldham Athletic

As loyal readers have noted, HMRC enjoys football away days. Hence it should come as no surprise to learn that HMRC visited Oldham Athletic yesterday.

However, according to the BBC, the visit was not to watch a football match.

"Oldham Athletic say they are "co-operating fully" with officers from HM Revenue and Customs who visited the League One club on Monday.

Latics chief executive Mark Moisley told BBC Radio Manchester that a number of officials arrived in the morning.

Moisley said he spoke with them and they went through paperwork before taking some away with them.

He added that the visit would not have any effect on a proposed takeover of the club which is ongoing."

Just out of curiosity, don't football away days constitute a potential conflict of interest if at the same time HMRC are conducting investigations into the tax arrangements of football clubs and players?


Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Football Is Flavour of The Month at HMRC

The Telegraph reports that the investigation into the tax affairs of professional football clubs by HMRC is scrutinising the basic salaries paid to academy scholars to decide whether they meet minimum wage regulations.

HMRC is understood to be investigating whether the number of hours a week that scholars spend training and playing games equates pro rata to the government minimum wage, set at £3.50 an hour for an apprentice.

Clearly football is flavour of the month at HMRC.

I assume HMRC "away days" to football clubs/games etc are now off the menu?

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

HMRC "The Most Corrupt Business In Britain"

Here are Sam Allardyce's views on HMRC, as per the Telegraph:

“The most corrupt business in our country would be what?

You’ll be shocked when I tell you this – HMRC.

They fly out tax demands without any real knowledge whether they should or shouldn’t.

They just put ‘em out willy-nilly and if you pay them, people s--- themselves and pay them.

Then they go to their accountant and say, and if you’ve got a s--- accountant, the account s---- himself and says, well you must owe them, you had better pay it.

Most of the punters don’t owe it. In fact most of the punters, actually the taxman owes them money. 

But because the country’s so skint, they come to government and say we’re skint, government says we’re skint how we gonna get the money. Let’s change the laws and let’s just fly out these demands.

If you invested in this tax scheme, where they pay the tax back, for investing in new businesses, or in regeneration zones, do you know what I mean, in current poverty areas.

But HMRC, you have to pay it back even if you don’t owe it.

The most corrupt, it’s the most corrupt business in the country at the minute, HMRC”.

Well I suspect the the most corrupt business in Britain is in fact football, but hey ho feel free to disabuse me of that.

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"