Emile Heskey Facing Bankruptcy......

[Le Renard]

Do we think most footballers understand anything about tax avoidance?  Financial advisors or accountants told them they could save some money, and it was all probably above board, your average footballer is not going to look any deeper than that. 

[Daggers]

1 hour ago, Out Foxed said:

Carnaby Films took advantage of this. They now make the critically acclaimed jk, Rise of the Footsoldier films. They basically ran a boiler room getting loads of people to invest a few grand, the films made no money but Mr A Loveday got rich.

Do you think "critically acclaimed" and "Rise of the Footsoldier films" belong together in the same sentence?

[PhillippaT]

3 hours ago, ozleicester said:

The case dates back to the early 2000s when something called “sideways loss relief” was still permitted. This enabled top rate earners, who would otherwise be taxed 40% on the top chunk of their incomes, to offset their potential tax bill against losses they made in other areas of business.

Ingenious therefore created film finance partnership schemes – which funded some of the world’s most successful films, including “Avatar” and “Life of Pi” – but any losses that the schemes made could be used to significantly offset investors’ tax bills.

 

HMRC claimed the schemes artificially invented losses on profitable films and amounted to “tax avoidance.” The schemes “sought to use artificial losses arising from investments to avoid £568 million of tax,” HMRC said in one press release from 2016. 

I thought that's what Hollywood accounting was for?   (I guess, this aint Hollywood?  )

[Guest David Oldfields Gate]

Avoiding tax is sport to the mega rich. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

If it works great, others else can pay for the nurses and roads. If it doesn't, your in trouble.

If the ride is not for you then just pay your f'ing taxes at the time, when due, in full, like 95% of us.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

A general point ... if any accountant/agent/whoever tells you they have a scheme for "reducing your tax liability", warning signs need to be flashing in your brain.    

 

It might be totally legitimate, but there's a good chance that HMRC will see it as tax avoidance.

 

Just pay income tax at the highest appropriate rate, and be done with it.    I'd be quite happy paying a few million £ in tax every year.

 

 

 

[Tuna]

Genuinely amazing how anyone who can earn so much money can lose it all like this.

[weller54]

17 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

Aparently Him and Lineker Sunk 6 figures into the club each to keep it afloat so sad to read this. 

Can we all have a whip round...

Loved Emile!!😪

[Fox85]

12 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Sorry no sympathy from me, he would have earnt millions during his career - I know he falls under the “badly advised footballer, poor bloke” category but there are plenty of people in this country that are on £20k a year that don’t fall into financial distress. 
 

Pay what you owe HMRC, we all have to at ridiculously high tax rates 👍🏻

If it wasn't for him you wouldn't have a club to support.

 

 

Dick!

[HighPeakFox]

Much as I dislike tax evasion/dodgy avoidance, I hold the HMRC in contempt, purely because in the instance their systems cock something up, it is the poor bloody punter's legal duty to spot their error, and thus their liability if they fail to notice what the professional tax gatherer has stuffed up.

[Daggers]

7 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Much as I dislike tax evasion/dodgy avoidance, I hold the HMRC in contempt, purely because in the instance their systems cock something up, it is the poor bloody punter's legal duty to spot their error, and thus their liability if they fail to notice what the professional tax gatherer has stuffed up.

One day there’ll be a drama about HMRC featuring Tony Jones. 

[Nalis]

8 hours ago, Le Renard said:

Do we think most footballers understand anything about tax avoidance?  Financial advisors or accountants told them they could save some money, and it was all probably above board, your average footballer is not going to look any deeper than that. 

It should absolve them of all responsibility though. I love Heskey and if he hasnt been advised of the risks he could sue his tax advisor though the reality is any half decent tax advisor will have entered into a retainer with disclaimers galore.

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, Fox85 said:

If it wasn't for him you wouldn't have a club to support.

 

 

Dick!

Maybe you can start the whip round 

[sdb]

2 hours ago, Tuna said:

Genuinely amazing how anyone who can earn so much money can lose it all like this.

I remember him being in the 20 best paid players in the world at one point, about 2002 I'd guess. 

[HankMarvin]

2 hours ago, weller54 said:

Can we all have a whip round...

Loved Emile!!😪

Cash in hand?

[ALC Fox]

13 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Whilst there are multiple tax relief initiatives or legitimate (at the time) ways of paying less tax, individuals are always going to get caught up in this. 

 

It's a real grey area, wealthy individuals, like companies will often have financial advice and experts in tax and sometimes it goes horribly wrong for whatever reason. Interestingly, usually against individuals rather than companies which seems to be HMRC's radox these days.

I had the unfortunate experience of having a right piece of work become involved with a close family member. Said piece of work was self-employed and I sat in on a meeting between this person and their accountant just openly discussing what earnings they could hide from the taxman. It's rife.

 

(Not that I'm accusing Heskey of doing this, mind. As a complete aside, I also used to know a close relative of his. Lovely family. Hope he gets out of it.)

 

I agree, though, that it would be more beneficial for the country to go after the corporations and conglomerates than individuals.

Edited 10 January 2024 by ALC Fox

[J. James]

22 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

emerged last week that a record 329 professional footballers were under investigation by HMRC for suspected tax avoidance last season

Tax avoidance is legal and routinely used by the rich to stay rich and get richer, tax evasion is illegal.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

29 minutes ago, J. James said:

Tax avoidance is legal and routinely used by the rich to stay rich and get richer, tax evasion is illegal.

That's true from a strict definition point of view (and has been for decades).

But as far as HMRC are concerned tax avoidance is effectively tax evasion, ie engaging in schemes to avoid paying tax you ought to be paying.

I don't think HMRC use the phrase "tax evasion" anywhere.   You either pay tax you should be paying, or you're avoiding it.

Someone defined tax avoidance as "bending the rules of the tax system to try to gain a tax advantage that Parliament never intended.", which is sort of what it is.

 

[ozleicester]

[J. James]

8 hours ago, worth_the_wait said:

That's true from a strict definition point of view (and has been for decades).

But as far as HMRC are concerned tax avoidance is effectively tax evasion, ie engaging in schemes to avoid paying tax you ought to be paying.

I don't think HMRC use the phrase "tax evasion" anywhere.   You either pay tax you should be paying, or you're avoiding it.

Someone defined tax avoidance as "bending the rules of the tax system to try to gain a tax advantage that Parliament never intended.", which is sort of what it is.

 

It's all about scale for me, I'm self employed and frankly try to avoid as much tax as possible by claiming for every legitimate expense, as do all people in possession of a brain.

 

The line of decency is crossed imao when multi millionaires pay "creative accountants" to avoid (evade) paying most or all of the due tax.

 

Oddly it's never the big ones who are caught it seems, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, McDonald's all claim to pay what's due but the tax/income percentage looks extremely low.

 

Political connections (ie having a politician either on or a promise to be on the payroll) helps greatly it appears.

[Daggers]

7 minutes ago, J. James said:

It's all about scale for me, I'm self employed and frankly try to avoid as much tax as possible by claiming for every legitimate expense, as do all people in possession of a brain.

 

The line of decency is crossed imao when multi millionaires pay "creative accountants" to avoid (evade) paying most or all of the due tax.

 

Oddly it's never the big ones who are caught it seems, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, McDonald's all claim to pay what's due but the tax/income percentage looks extremely low.

 

Political connections (ie having a politician either on or a promise to be on the payroll) helps greatly it appears.

The day companies and the mega rich start paying their fair share of tax will be the day I stop adding 10% onto claimed mileage. 

[lcfc sheff]

I was watching Louis Theroux talking to Anthony Joshua on BBC yesterday. He spoke about how the likes of Mike Tyson etc have had so much money and then gone bankrupt. Sportsmen need better support around them and to make wiser decisions financially, problem is they are taught exclusively about their sport and nothing around it bar media training. Hopefully clubs going forward can advice these players more going forward.

 

Heskey admittedly will be fine, should have a footballers pension + media duties that’ll keep him going 

[jonthefox]

It’s his birthday today. I wonder if he’s waiting for a card with a tenner in from his grandma 

[Tommy G]

55 minutes ago, J. James said:

It's all about scale for me, I'm self employed and frankly try to avoid as much tax as possible by claiming for every legitimate expense, as do all people in possession of a brain.

 

The line of decency is crossed imao when multi millionaires pay "creative accountants" to avoid (evade) paying most or all of the due tax.

 

Oddly it's never the big ones who are caught it seems, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, McDonald's all claim to pay what's due but the tax/income percentage looks extremely low.

 

Political connections (ie having a politician either on or a promise to be on the payroll) helps greatly it appears.

@HMRC 

[jerry]

On 10/01/2024 at 00:42, HankMarvin said:

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.

What's the saying. Paying taxes are for the poor people. Personally pay over £100 a month tax on my company pension after investing in it for over thirty years.

[Foxin_Mad]

I never really get rich people going bankrupt who still remain living a rich lifestyle. Like that price woman, thinks shes been bankrupt about 3 times yet still lives a life of luxury, drives around in a range rover, whilst some have no pot to piss in and drive in a 15 year old fiesta, how does this happen?