HMRC chases Gary Lineker for £4.9m tax and NI bill

In the latest high profile IR35 case, HMRC is pursuing presenter Gary Lineker over a £4.9m tax bill. 

The self-employed Match of the Day presenter set up a partnership called Gary Lineker Media in 2012 with his former wife, which he used to channel his earnings from BT Sport and the BBC. 

The tax bill in question relates to tax and national insurance contributions for work Lineker carried out with the BBC between the 2013/14 and 2026/17 tax years and for BT Sport during the 2015/16 and 2017/18 tax years. Unsurprisingly, he is appealing the case.

As described in our previous blogs on the subject, IR35 legislation was introduced to tackle so-called ‘disguised employment’, often through freelancers supplying their services to clients through an intermediary, such as a limited company.

In similar cases, TV presenters Kaye Adams, Lorraine Kelly and Helen Fospero all won in court when appealing against HMRC. Broadcasters Christa Ackroyd and Eamonn Holmes lost their cases.

For more information about this legislation, visit the dedicated IR35 Legislation section on our Advice Hub.

About the Author

Paul Newbold

Partner

After qualifying with KPMG where he gained significant audit experience, Paul joined Torgersens in 1991 and became the firm’s audit partner in 2000. Paul employs his broad range of financial skills to provide commercial and accounting advice to a range of owner-managed businesses in the independent retail, education and professional services sectors. He also has extensive experience dealing with charities, Registered Social Landlords and not-for-profit organisations and co-operatives.   Outside of work, Paul likes to visit Eastern France and South-West German and read novels by David Morrell, Michael Blake and Harper Lee. He also likes watching films, his favourite is The Shawshank Redemption.

To get in touch please e-mail paul.newbold@torgersens.com.