Former news anchor handed a £419,000 tax bill blames advice given by the BBC
A PRESENTER handed a £419,000 tax bill has blamed the BBC for advising her to claim her salary via a personal service company.
Christa Ackroyd, who was the anchor of Yorkshire’s Look North for more than a decade, has spent the past five years in a battle with HMRC. A tax tribunal this week ruled in HMRC’S favour, but said Ms Ackroyd should not be criticised because she was “encouraged by the BBC to contract through a personal service company”.
Ms Ackroyd was the BBC’S highestpaid regional presenter until she was let go in 2013, with a salary of £163,000 plus a performance-related bonus.
She said last night: “While under contract I remained confident that the BBC contract drawn up by the BBC’S legal department was what it was described as – a ‘for service’ freelance contract.”
She signed it “in good faith” and said she had “suffered five horrendous years of innuendo and gossip suggesting I am a tax cheat. This judgment proves that I am not.”
Ms Ackroyd is now considering an appeal. The £419,000 figure includes some tax she has already paid, and her current liability is around £200,000. The tribunal found that “the BBC wanted to contract with a personal service company to avoid any possibility of Ms Ackroyd being an employee” despite contracting her to work at least 225 days per year.
In his ruling at a tax hearing in Leeds, Judge Jonathan Cannan said it was “striking” that the BBC did not supply any evidence in the case. He suggested that the corporation was trying to distance itself from cases involving personal service companies, noting “the BBC’S position of not wishing to be aligned with HMRC or the appellant”.
After a 2012 Deloitte report criticised the BBC for paying more than 100 stars via personal service companies, the corporation reviewed its arrangements and brought 85 presenters onto its books. Ms Ackroyd was not offered a staff job.
Speaking after the tribunal, she said: “I am delighted that the judge has recognised that I have never acted in any way dishonestly. He accepted I was a hard-working journalist.” The BBC terminated Ms Ackroyd’s contract in 2013.