The Daily Record have reeled Joey Barton into the LLP tax scandal and finally admitted that their own columnist, Barry Ferguson was also an ‘investor’.
Following stinging criticism from Alex EBT Rae, Kris Boyd and Ian Durrant it’s now time to shine a light into Barton’s tax matters.
At the start of the century it seemed commonplace in dressing rooms to invest in the film industry as players sought to protect some of their spiralling income from the Inland Revenue.
Looking after your own tax affairs is of course an entirely different matter to a club luring players onto dual contracts with the assurance of a side letter ‘protecting’ them from Income Tax and National Insurance on half of their earnings.
Some of the biggest names in the game in Scotland and England are involved and now feeling the strain of pressure from HMRC.
Revealing some of the names involved in September 2014 The Daily Mirror confirmed: “Ingenious clients include footballers Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Joey Barton, plus film-maker Guy Ritchie and TV stars Jeremy Paxman, Anne Robinson and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.”
Today, after splashing on the Celtic figures that invested in the scheme, the Record revealed: “JOEY Barton is caught up in a £434million tax dodge dispute.
The wayward Rangers star was a partner in three film investment schemes set up by controversial London firm Ingenious.
Barton joined Ingenious Film Partners, Ingenious Film Partners 2 and Ingenious Film Partners 3 between 2005 and 2007 – all of which he has now resigned from.
The schemes allowed members to offset losses made on film investments against their tax liabilities for other income.
But after they were targeted by HMRC at a tribunal, many wealthy investors are being hit with multi-million pound bills.”
Eight paragraphs later the Record confirmed Ferguson’s involvement in the ‘£434million tax dodge dispute.’
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