BBC chief admits 3,000 radio st aff face huge t ax bills

MORE than 3,000 BBC radio staff could be hit by massive tax bills after being caught in an HMRC probe, the Corporation’s director general Lord Hall has admitted.

He revealed the number while giving evidence to MPs about the BBC’s policy of urging workers to set up personal service companies (PSC) so they could be treated as freelancers. The arrangement meant the BBC was able to save millions in National Insurance contributions, but now leaves 3,000 staff facing demands for unpaid tax over claims they wrongly classified themselves as self-employed.

Lord Hall told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee that thousands of staff had been affected by an HMRC decision last year to change its guidelines on which radio industry employees can have self-employed status. He said a lot of the people affected are in local radio and not on high incomes. The number involved is higher than previous reports have suggested. HMRC is demanding employees pay income tax at up to 45 per cent instead of using PCSs to pay corporation tax at 19 per cent.

Graham Webber, of tax dispute specialists WTT Consulting, said: ‘The BBC clearly considers that 3,000 people are now in the sights of HMRC. Of this number, 200 or so will be big name celebrities, the other 2,800 will be lesser paid and potentially face greater devastation as they won’t earn so much.’

Earlier this year, a host of top BBC presenters accused the Corporation of forcing them into an ‘industriallevel tax avoidance’ scheme.

A tax tribunal found BBC officials had pressured stars to set up PSCs and many want it to pay the portion of the bills covering National Insurance contributions.