Those that benefited from the ‘EBT years’ at Ibrox have been warned that HMRC are coming after their share of Income Tax, National Insurance, penalties and interest.
For over a decade stars from Barry Ferguson and Stefan Klos through to Bob Malcolm and Steven Thompson had their salaries topped up by offshore loans that they were assured were free of the deductions that almost everyone else in the UK was paying.
Ferguson and Klos picked up over £2m from those side contracts which the Supreme Court ruled was simply a form of disguised remuneration in July 2018.
With the old Rangers club now in liquidation the indemnity letters held by the players are now worthless with HMRC ready to collect their fair share of the hush hush money that was never declared in the contracts lodged with the SFA and SPL.
Warning 50,000 people who benefited from the scams Insider stated:
With the power to bring the last 20 years into consideration and company insolvency or dissolution being no barrier to subsequent tax recovery on individuals, there are some who could find themselves “on the cliff-edge financially”.
Donald McKinnon, managing partner and insolvency practitioner at Wylie & Bissett, explained: “The 2019 Loan Charge Legislation follows the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of RFC 2012 plc (in liquidation) – formerly The Rangers Football Club PLC – which upheld HMRC’s case against the club for the use of disguised remuneration.
“There is a real desire by HMRC to bring these types of schemes to an end and whilst the Rangers case was high profile, the rules are far wider reaching than many believe.”
Despite fielding ineligible players for over a decade, gaining trophies, prize money and Champions League access, no footballing action has been taken against the the old club.
Other clubs have had points deductions and been expelled from cup competitions due to genuine mistakes in the registration of players.