Rooney pays £5m bill over movie tax avoidance scheme
FORMER England captain Wayne Rooney has settled a £5million tax bill after being allegedly accused of avoidance.
The millionaire Everton star, 30, was stunned when his investment with film financiers was deemed by HM Revenue & Customs as a way of avoiding tax.
The film investment scheme, Invicta 43, is alleged to have generated tax relief for 225 wealthy individuals.
The company bought rights to the Hollywood films Fred Claus and 10,000 BC, which they were able to claim tax relief on.
The tax money was expected to be paid once the movies were leased back to studios in later years. Rooney – who categorically denied tax avoidance – is understood to have sat down with HMRC and settled any outstanding debts.
Yesterday a spokesman for Rooney said: “Wayne’s tax affairs have always been conducted in full compliance with the law. All of Wayne’s tax affairs are up to date as of today.”
Fellow investors in the Invicta scheme include ex-Manchester United defender Wes Brown, chairman of the British Retail Consortium Steve Esom and Anthony Fry, a former member of the BBC Trust.
There is no suggestion that any Invicta investor has broken the law or will be unable to pay any HMRC debts. HMRC argued the schemes were a form of avoidance and in 2016 won a ruling to claw back two-thirds of the tax relief claimed.
A tax tribunal last year upheld the decision that the incentives were not allowable deductions, leaving HMRC to chase £700million.
Meanwhile, in a separate scheme called Future Screen Partners No1 LLP, retired football stars Steve McManaman, Kevin Phillips and Ian Walker have been told they could face “catastrophic” tax bills.
That project’s promoter Future Capital Partners has written to all investors warning them the company may go bust.
Its letter said: “The liquidation will automatically mean all remaining members of the partnership will become designated members with obligations to prepare accounts, tax returns, annual returns and to deal with HMRC inquiries.
“A failure to do these things will lead to individual penalties of increasing magnitude.
“Clearly the outcomes could be very serious, and possibly catastrophic, for you.”
Football tax expert Chris Brady said: “The avoidance of tax relied on the notion that the schemes produced films that lose money in their early days.
“This enabled investors to set those losses against other taxable income. The problem was that some films went on to make money.
“So HMRC successfully argued that it was not legitimate investment but tax avoidance.”