Football crazy: tax bills shoot up as a result of rocketing player
The tax bills of the top 20 teams in football’s premier league have shot up by 64% over the last two years, according to Deloitte & Touche.
According to England’s Premier Clubs, a new report from the firm, total tax receipts paid by the clubs spiralled to #251m during the 1999/00 season, compared with just #153m in 1997/98.
PAYE, national insurance, VAT and corporation tax payments have rocketed due to spiralling player wages and an increase in the income of the Premier League to #772m, 15% more than the previous year.
The 1999/00 season also saw football players treated as intangible assets for the first time due to the introduction of FRS 10 last March.
It requires clubs to show purchased players as assets on their balance sheets, and to amortise their transfer fees across the length of the player’s contract rather than writing them off against that year’s profits.
But home-grown players such as Liverpool’s Michael Owen, pictured above (centre), during last weekend’s semi-final against Wycombe Wanderers, are not shown as assets.
Operating results in the Premier League varied with Manchester Utd showing a #29.1m profit, while Liverpool showed a #7.8m loss.
A full version of this story is at www.accountancyage.com/News/1120359.