Kieran Maguire: Government ‘alarm bells’ ringing over ‘aggressive’ £13m Chelsea scheme
Chelsea and their Premier League allies using dual agent representation as a tax loophole will have alarm bells ringing at HMRC.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Chelsea’s tax-evading scheme.
A report published by BBC on Thursday (30 March) showed that Premier League clubs have avoided as much as £250million worth of tax through dual agent representation in the last three years.
Agents are often used by players to help strike deals and agreements with clubs and in return they are rewarded for their role in the deal.
Tax is incurred in these payments, but clubs have found a way around paying the full tax rate if the same agent represents both the player and the club in a particular deal.
Of all the Premier League clubs to use the exploitation, Chelsea have benefited the most, with the Blues saving £12,8million in 2020 alone.
“I think this is part of the way that Chelsea conduct themselves,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Chief financial officers at other clubs tend to be more proactive in their relationship with HMRC.
“Good financial departments will hold live communications with HMRC regarding new signings and how fees are structured.
“What they tend to find is that HMRC are very reasonable and willing to listen.
“I think sometimes when clubs such as Chelsea keep them in the dark and just submit a 50/50 split between player and club in regard to dual representation it rings alarm bells for them.
“At the end of the day, they are duty-bound to try to ensure that the taxpayer is not disadvantaged by aggressive tax avoidance schemes.“
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