Club pay up £20k over salary error

WASPS ‘over-ran’ their salary spend by more than £40,000 during the 2016/17 season.

A statement on the Aviva Premiership website said the club had overrun its salary spend limit by £40,528 during the last campaign, following the completion of an independent audit.

As a result, Wasps will pay back 50p per £1 as tax, with the total owing being £20,264.

“This is not a breach of the regulations and there is no suggestion it was deliberate,” said a Premiership Rugby spokesperson.

“A number of adjustments were identified by the independent auditors which resulted in the overrun.

“These have now been addressed.”

A Wasps spokesperson explained the overrun on the salary cap, which equates to around 0.6% over the £6.5m salary cap last season, was due to two key factors. “The payments we make to player agents sit within the salary cap and many of our players are bound into the same agency,” said the spokesperson. “This agency was based offshore but last season they moved to the UK which means payments we make to them suddenly had VAT added to them, so they went up by 20 per cent.

“This would’ve accounted for some of the overrun.

“The second factor is down to international credits, which are paid to clubs to encourage them to develop young England players and you get a payment per appearances.

“This allowance we get is factored into our budget and there is an understanding by the authorities when this changes suddenly.

“For example when we lost Tommy Taylor who was set to tour with England last summer, then the injuries to Nathan Hughes and Elliot Daly, this impacted our international credits we would’ve received.

“There is no suggestion of any wrong doing and it is, in effect, a financial error due to a change of circumstances.”