Palace’s admin blunder causes Souare’s tax bill

AN administrative error by Crystal Palace left defender Pape Souare with a ‘large six-figure tax bill’ and forced him to go bust to pay his debts.

The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed last week that Souare had been hit with the crippling tax bill that had forced him to enter into a voluntary insolvency arrangement, despite earning £30,000 a week at the London club.

The Senegal international had unwittingly not been paying any tax since joining the club from Lille in 2015 for £3.5million.

Palace were responsible for the embarrassing error that meant the defender had been receiving his pay without tax and National Insurance taken off.

Souare was not aware of the issue until he received the huge tax demand from HMRC.

Souare has been helped through his insolvency arrangements by Quantuma LLP. The firm said: ‘When Pape moved from France to England the wrong tax deductions were made from his earnings, which led to arrears of tax building up, unbeknown to him.’

Quantuma insolvency partner Mark Sands, said: ‘The club and Pape have worked with us to identify the correct tax due and to agree a payment plan approved by HMRC, under which Pape will pay all of the tax due as quickly as he is able.’

Palace have refused to comment but an HMRC spokesman said: ‘We can’t discuss specific cases or an individual’s tax affairs.’