Two pundits on the BBC’s Match of the Day have been accused of investing in a tax avoidance scheme, and are reported to face bills of more than £2 million each.
According to The Times, former England, Tottenham and Liverpool footballer Danny Murphy has been ordered to pay £2.5 million to HM Revenue & Customs after investing in schemes set up by Ingenious Media Partners in 2005.
Meanwhile, Arsenal defender Martin Keown is reported to have paid over £2 million to HMRC for a ‘retrospective tax bill’, although he denies the figure is accurate.
Other Match of the Day pundits have also allegedly been involved with similar schemes in the past: Robbie Savage are reported to have invested in similar Ingenious Media schemes investigated by HMRC in the past, although it is unclear whether they claimed tax relief, and Rio Ferdinand settled his tax bill with HMRC in 2011 after investing in another film scheme set up by Scion.
The schemes take advantage of a tax break designed to help fund the UK film industry and Ingenious Media has previously denied HMRC allegations that its schemes do not represent genuine investment opportunities.
HMRC has recently stepped up is crackdown on tax avoidance scheme, and issued 600 accelerated payment demands to investors in alleged schemes, giving them 90 days to pay the disputed tax before the scheme is challenged in court.
HMRC launched its court battle with Ingenious Media in November and a decision on the legality of their schemes is expected next month.
