: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:39 pm
Boom wrote:
Maybe this is not as bad as it sounds....
My understanding is that it's all about the image rights of the players. Basically the club has been making tax/NIC free payments to players wrapped up as image rights. HMRC has come along done an investigation and identified the problem. What they do then is work out the value of the image rights payments and the value of the tax and NICs owing on them. They can do this for the last 6 tax years. They then charge interest on the total value of the unpaid tax and NIC and then finally assess you for a further penalty for breaking the law.
Quite obviously when HMRC can go back 6 years, then add interest and penalties it all soon adds up to very substantial sum. A number of other clubs are in exactly the same situation.
Interesting. I did not have Wakey down as one of the clubs most implicated in the various devices that HMRC have been challenging, although it may explain a few things.
Do you have this on good authority?
I've been puzzled about why this all seemed to have blown up now when it was supposedly resolved in September. Some further research (or more to the point being pointed in the right direction by a legal Southstander) has now clarified for me that:
1. The high court hearing was only yesterday
2. The hearing was merely adjourned, so the petition is still live
3. It seems if Wakey do not find the rest of the money within the time frame then the petition could still proceed and the club could still be put into compulsory liquidation.
This is not quite the spin that your club are putting on it.
Conventional wisdom has it that Wire Stains and Pies are most in the frame over the tax on image rights issue, although the majority of SL clubs were believed to be implicated in some way.
If it IS down to (deemed to be) excessive proportions of player packages being paid as image rights (usually to offshore personal service companies) then you might have another potential problem looming. HMRC "grosses-up" the net payments made to their pre-tax equivalent, and treats the difference as being unpaid tax and NIC (together with adding employers' NIC). As well as a tax bill, this means a sudden retrospective increase in what the club has paid to players. Which would retrospectively increase your salary cap player spend. (See the RFL Operational Rules regarding "grossing up"). This could send clubs so affected over the salary cap, retrospectively (maybe not you guys if you had enough margin?). Will be very interesting to see how the RFL deal with this, especially if any clubs who are NOT implicated cry foul?
Incidentally, I have been assured by the club that Bulls are not exposed here. Guess we'll see, cos sounds like most clubs are in some measure.