It’s only appears to be a bill for 42k can’t believe he couldn’t afford that or have assets to sell.
Edit
a little more to the story
HMRC said that as well encouraging deliberate tax defaulters to come forward, the publication of the names like Heskey was designed act as a deterrent to others and to show “the Government is serious about tackling evasion and non-compliance by ensuring everyone pays their fair share, creating a level playing field for honest people and businesses, and cracking down on the minority who seek to evade tax”.
It emerged last week that a record 329 professional footballers were under investigation by HMRC for suspected tax avoidance last season – up from just 93 the season before – with 31 clubs and 91 agents also being probed. More than £560million has been collected in football-related tax since 2015 amid a crackdown on avoidance linked to image-rights deals and the launch of a ‘Football Compliance Project’.
Elliott Buss, a partner at accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, said: “The Football Compliance Project linking up with HMRC’s elite fraud unit means the tax authority is very concerned about the significant amounts of unpaid tax in the sport.”
In November 2017, the Sun newspaper reported that HMRC had instigated High Court proceedings against Heskey over a bill of £1.7 million linked to a £700m tax relief scheme for the rich.
Heskey was said to be facing a demand for money owed over eight years while he was playing for Liverpool, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa and Australian side Newcastle Jets.
The bill was said to be linked to an investment in Ingenious “partnerships”, which qualified for tax breaks aimed at backing British film-making.
Heskey’s lawyers were said to have issued a 19-page defence, denying he was a partner in the scheme, insisting he was only a member, and claiming the payment notices were unlawful and wrongly totted up.