|
|
25 May 2012
THE HIGH COURT has dismissed the taxman's challenge against a controversial football insolvency rule.
At the Royal Courts of Justice, judge David Richards dismissed HMRC's latest attempt to overturn the football creditor rule.
Further reading
An HMRC spokesman said: "We are naturally disappointed with today's judgment.
"Our view remains that the football creditor rule is unfair to all other unsecured creditors who are forced to make do with much smaller returns – if anything – on monies owed to them by football clubs which enter administration.
"We will carefully consider the detail of the judgment before deciding whether an appeal is in the public interest."
The taxman had filed a legal claim against the Football League in May 2010 claiming its Football Creditor Rule (FCR), which prioritises some creditors over others, was unlawful.
The taxman was battling to have the football creditor rule overturned because it believes the rule – which prioritises payments to creditors such as players, managers and clubs in the event of an administration – is "unlawful". If a club enters administration, all football creditors are paid in full with remaining funds then divided among creditors.
HMRC and the Football League began their legal battle on 30 November 2011 with residing judge Mr Justice Newey allowing the Premier League permission to "intervene" and fight its corner in the proceedings because both leagues enforce the same rule.
The case was originally postponed for several months to allow both the Premier League and HMRC to wade into a different legal argument involving collapsed bank Lehman Brothers administrators and a consortium of investors.
The two sides made written submissions to the court, in which Lehman Brothers' administrators were battling to defend the insolvency principle that creditors should be treated equally.
However, the Supreme Court specifically mentioned that it did not want to pre-judge the HMRC and the Football League case.
A Football League spokesman said: "The judgment confirms that the Football League's rules and insolvency policy do not breach the principles of existing insolvency law.
"The judgment recognises that a league has the right to insist upon insolvent clubs meeting their financial obligations to the rest of the game as a condition of continued membership.
"Had this principle been ruled unlawful, the most likely condequence would be insolvent clubs being expelled from the Football League altogether, as clubs would be unwilling to compete against teams that have defaulted on debts to their fellow clubs."
The spokesman also confirmed the Football League and HMRC have co-operated over the implementation of a monthly PAYE reporting mechanism which should reduce tax liabilities in the future.
You may also like
Careers
Search for jobs
Click to search our database of all the latest accountancy roles
Create a profile
Click to set up your profile and let the best recruiters find you
Jobs by email
Sign up to receive regular updates with the latest roles suitable for you
Briefings
If budgeting is to have any value at all, it needs a radical overhaul. In today's dynamic marketplace, budgeting can no longer serve as a company's only management system; it must integrate with and support dedicated strategy management systems, process improvement systems, and the like. In this paper, Professor Peter Horvath and Dr Ralf Sauter present what's wrong with the current approach to budgeting and how to fix it.
In this white paper CCH provide checklists to help accountants and finance professionals both in practice and in business examine these issues and make plans. Also includes a case study of a large commercial organisation working through the first year of mandatory iXBRL filing.
AccountancyAgeInsight is a frequently updated resource centre for finance professionals, offering a free and easy-to-use digital library of briefings, white papers and other information resources. 
Visitor comments Add your comment
Football club approach to insolvency
English law is not of much help to business in many aspects. This is just one. The answer is not to become an unsecured creditor i.e. make football clubs pay for all supplies in advance or insist on a personal guarantee.
Posted by: Christopher McGowan, 25 May 2012 | 11:46
HMRC should appeal the HIgh Court decision on the Footbal Creditor Rule
I have yet to read the full judgment of the High Court but there is nowhere in the Insolvency legislation that gives footabll creditors a superpriority over the other creditors. Well done to HMRC for taking this case to court on behalf of us the taxpayers. HMRC lost their preferential status in insolvencies in 2003 to allow other unsecured creditors to be paid back some of their cash to the disadvantage of the taxpayers. So now the taxpayers are again footing the bill for football clubs not managing their finances properly and not paying their taxes. I would urge HMRC to appeal this decision on behalf of us, the taxpayers, and ask the Government to make non-payment of tax by directors of companies or organisations a criminal offence with imprisonment as a punishment.
Posted by: Janet Watson, 26 May 2012 | 16:33
Insolvency Legislation Needs Reviewing
I agree that the HMRC should appeal, and if they are unsuccessful they need to lobby for a change in the legislation.
It is entirely preposterous that the football clubs which extend enormous credit to fellow clubs in the knowledge that they are almost certainly going to be paid should be in a more favourable position than anyone else, such as pie suppliers and HMRC. And if insolvency legislation is going to be looked at, the powers that be might look at capping the proportion of recovered funds that end up in the administrator's and liquidator's pockets instead of the creditors!
Posted by: Andrew Bolton, 31 May 2012 | 15:33