Rangers tax bill still unknown
THE final tax bill for oldco Rangers will not be known until next year despite reports that the liability to HMRC could be slashed.
The Times newspaper claimed yesterday that around £50million would be wiped off the bill, taking it as low as £20m, for using Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) — a means of paying players and staff money through an offshore scheme which was eventually deemed a form of tax avoidance. Ally McCoist, manager of Rangers during the insolvency period, described
that lower figure as ‘a debt Rangers could have handled’ amid suggestions that the oldco club could have survived instead of being thrust into the hands of Craig Whyte and eventual liquidation. But last night a spokesman for BDO, liquidators of oldco Rangers, told
Sportsmail: ‘Since we published the last creditors report in June, BDO’s tax specialists have been negotiating with HMRC over the size of the tax bill. ‘There is no final decision, negotiations are ongoing and we expect a resolution of this in 2020.’ Six months ago, HMRC removed a penalty of £24m, after an appeal to the tax authority’s Penalty Review Consistency Panel. And there are suggestions HMRC have only considered waiving much of the original assessment in order to facilitate the liquidation process being concluded. Suggestions in The Times report that HMRC had ‘blundered’ were also dismissed yesterday. Leading EBT expert Thomas Wallace, who is Head of Tax at London-based firm WTT, told the Scottish Sun website: ‘Whilst I would certainly say that HMRC is more than capable of making mistakes, it is difficult to see how they have here. ‘What has most likely happened is that HMRC have taken an unusually pedantic step of recognising that even if they were to pursue both the quantum of the assessment and the penalty levied back through the Courts, there will still be insufficient assets in the liquidation to gain any more than what they will on the new agreed basis. I can’t comment without hard figures around some of the variables, but I think the important part is that in reality, whether £50m, £30m or £10m, HMRC were never getting that money. It just doesn’t exist.’ But McCoist said: ‘If there’s mistakes being made, then people have to answer questions. ‘The figures they are speaking about, the claim was around £70m for using EBTs but that figure is now believed to be around £20m. It’s a completely different outlook because that’s a debt Rangers could have handled. ‘Nothing would have happened... wouldn’t have gone into administration, wouldn’t have gone into liquidation.’ An HMRC spokesperson said: ‘We don’t comment on identifiable businesses. HMRC has always been clear that disguised remuneration is a form of tax avoidance.’