Content
Reverse Charges
Beyond The Grave
Director's Two Hats
IHT Plan Fails
VAT And Cash
Amnesty International
An Inspector Calls
Losing A Bet
Caring Doctors
TAAR Brush
Made To Be Broken
Flat VAT
Safe Deposit
Tax On Gas
Working Late
Composite Companies
Excuses, Excuses
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Newcastle United football club are in the middle of an argument with HM Revenue & Customs about fees that they pay to their players' agents for negotiating contracts. The club is claiming back the VAT charged by the agents, and to justify that it must have instructed the agents to act on its behalf in the negotiations. Otherwise it's purely the player's bill, and the club can't claim the VAT on someone else's expense. The problem is that the club isn't supposed to instruct the agent - the agent is meant to be acting for the player. The Football Association rules forbid the club to pay these fees - to avoid embarrassing questions from the FA, Newcastle filed reports saying "we didn't pay them", and then still claimed back the VAT from HMRC. The VAT Tribunal chairman thought that this was all completely improper, and held that the club couldn't have the VAT back. The High Court judge said that the chairman was confused - he had mixed up what ought to happen with what did happen. There was no doubt that the club was not supposed to give instructions to the agents, but that didn't mean for certain that they didn't do so. Rules get broken, and the VAT should depend on what actually went on, not on what should have done. There are many who think that the club is digging a deeper and deeper hole for itself. There is probably another argument to be had with the PAYE people about paying employees' bills once the VAT team have finished. It's a reminder to think about the tax consequences before picking up an expense for someone else - you could be given the red card.  |