HMRC are ready to collect the income tax and national insurance owed to them from the Rangers (IL) players that benefited from the club’s ‘EBT’ scheme.
In July the Supreme Court ruled in favour of HMRC that the scheme was simply disguised remuneration that should have been subject to income tax and national insurance in the normal manner.
HMRC have published a statement on their website that is sure to make for grim reading for stars such as Neil McCann, Steven Thompson, Alex Rae, Alex McLeish, Billy Dodds, Barry Ferguson, Ronald de Boer, Michael Mols and dozens of others.
The side letters that they assumed indemnified them against a tax demand are worthless with the interest and penalties added to the tax element meaning that most beneficiaries will have to pay back the full total that they cashed in.
HMRC will issue Follower Notices which carry a grim message:
If you use a tax avoidance scheme that has the same or similar arrangements to one that HMRC has successfully challenged in court, HMRC will check your tax affairs and may send you a follower notice.
A follower notice asks you to settle your tax affairs with HMRC. If you don’t, you may have to pay a penalty.
As well as a follower notice, you may also receive an APN. If you do, you’ll need to pay the accelerated payment as well as settling your tax affairs.
If you receive an APN, you must pay the amount of disputed tax. HMRC will hold this money until the enquiry into your affairs is complete, or your appeal is resolved. You’ll get the money back if HMRC finds you don’t owe it.
If you don’t pay the disputed tax amount by the date on the notice, you may have to pay a penalty.
If you don’t follow the steps described in a notice you receive, you may have to pay a penalty.
If this happens, you’ll receive a notice of penalty assessment telling you how much you have to pay, and by when. It also explains how the penalty is worked out.
At the First Tier Tax Tribunal David Murray admitted that the scheme/scam allowed the club to buy players that they couldn’t normally afford.
This scam allowed the club to win trophies, prize money and compete in the Champions League which brought in the income to keep the club afloat.
Every club that they played in Scotland and in Europe from 2000 were cheated by a club that had an illegal advantage on the park and who failed to register their players correctly with the football authorities. The players were ineligible.
For those players that don’t have enough in assets to pay Her Majesty forced bankruptcy awaits, some might even criticise the apparenty untouchable Dave Murray.
CLICK HERE for the BBC list of EBT payments.