GreiginFife
Money List Winner
I think the story from this, if it is proven to have been an HMRC error, is that there could be a whole new can of worms opened about the impact that the "error" had on viable sale-ability of the club at the time.
A club with a £20m tax bill (regardless of how said tax bill came about) is a very different proposition to one with a £70m one hanging over it.
If this does (and I say if, as there will be some way to run on this) come out as a proven error then there could be litigation against HMRC for potentially causing the false devaluation of saleable assets and harming the legitimate opportunity for a business to continue trading.
This is withstanding anyone's feelings on how the business got in to the situation in the first place. I would expect all clubs that have used EBTs and tax avoidance loop-holes to be held to account in very least if that is the standard of integrity we demand. I doubt there would be many left operating. My own club went through a period of turmoil where money was being spent that was beyond means and there was [apparent] lack of transparency of where funds were being found.
I am no fan of either of the bigot brothers and in some way hope that this is not an error. But equally, I have no great love of HMRC and their "we know best" attitude when I personally have felt the impact of their "accuracy" and their persecution of small business operators as we are the easy targets, so equally (and personally) I would like to see them get some comeuppance in a very public way.
A club with a £20m tax bill (regardless of how said tax bill came about) is a very different proposition to one with a £70m one hanging over it.
If this does (and I say if, as there will be some way to run on this) come out as a proven error then there could be litigation against HMRC for potentially causing the false devaluation of saleable assets and harming the legitimate opportunity for a business to continue trading.
This is withstanding anyone's feelings on how the business got in to the situation in the first place. I would expect all clubs that have used EBTs and tax avoidance loop-holes to be held to account in very least if that is the standard of integrity we demand. I doubt there would be many left operating. My own club went through a period of turmoil where money was being spent that was beyond means and there was [apparent] lack of transparency of where funds were being found.
I am no fan of either of the bigot brothers and in some way hope that this is not an error. But equally, I have no great love of HMRC and their "we know best" attitude when I personally have felt the impact of their "accuracy" and their persecution of small business operators as we are the easy targets, so equally (and personally) I would like to see them get some comeuppance in a very public way.
). Without knowing what they took to court and argued over, the case may have been favourable of owing, not what was owed.
