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Unsurprisingly, 2016 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is worth quite a lot of money. He had declared income of €225m in 2015 with €2m in 22 different Swiss bank accounts. The bulk of his income was earned outside Spain. He is battling accusations of tax evasion which he emphatically denies.
Oldham Athletic face a winding-up petition today brought by HM Revenue and Customs, although claim the matter has been resolved.
A statement on the clubs’ website said, ‘We are aware of the winding up petition brought by HMRC scheduled for Monday June 20 and our legal advisors are dealing with it, The liability on which the petition is based was paid in full last month.’
Last December the club had difficulty in paying their players and they were paid late for three months.
14 out of 20 Premier League cubs paid no corporation tax according to their latest accounts although half of them were profitable. This is largely because historic losses can be set against future profits to wipe out tax bills.
Tottenham Hotspur reported profits of £83.3m in its last set of accounts, but only paid £518,000 in corporation tax. Manchester City made profits of £15.3m and received a tax credit of £380,000.
Bolton Wanderers face the threat of administration despite a fire sale that has included putting their entire playing staff on the market and raising £4m by selling the offices at the Macron stadium. The club’s situation remains finely balanced despite the sale of the offices and the prospect of future income from transfers. The offices are rented to several businesses and generated £800,000 annually.
Bolton Wanderers expect to receive a winding up order from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the next few days. The club owes £600k in unpaid taxes. They are thought to need £15m to get to the end of the season.
The devil is always in the detail in George Osborne’s budgets and he is a past master at inventing stealth taxes that initially attract little attention, although he got it badly wrong with the pasty tax.
This time he has decided to tax testimonial matches for footballers (and other sportsmen and women). A testimonial match at a top club can net £1m. In addition, there are usually associated events such as black tie dinners with over priced seats and auctions.
Northampton Town staff have taken the highly unusual step of using the club’s website to criticise chairman David Cardoza. He still owns the club and they demanded that he sell it ‘within hours’.
The non-playing staff are in their fourth week without pay. The club’s bank accounts were frozen after Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs launched a winding up petition as a result of £166,000 of unpaid taxes. There is also an administration petition from Northampton Borough Council.
As football clubs start to get their finances in order, winding up orders served by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)have become rarer. However, one has now been served on Northampton Town.
Lionel Messi and his father, who is his manager, are to face tax fraud charges and Spanish prosecutors are calling for a 22-month jail term. They deny any wrongdoing and blame a former agent of the player. Of course, even if they were found gullty, this would not necessarily be the sentence that was handed down.
There is still no clarity about the projected takeover of Northampton Town. A trilateral meeting yesterday between the current owners, the London-based Indian consortium interested in buying the club, and Northampton Borough Council was cancelled. A meeting between the owners and the purchasers will go ahead.
Fans running a #WeWantAnswers campaign plan to demonstrate at Saturday’s game.