HMRC coming for footballers and will scour Instagram for tax intel Sport Business Buried away in the documents released alongside the Budget was a new report published by HMRC that reveals sports professionals and those involved in professional football such as players and agents are to become even more of a focus area for the Treasury. Coupled with the Chancellor’s announcement of new investment in HMRC compliance activity [...]
Rising welfare bill set to ‘swallow’ stealth tax revenue Tax Rising benefit costs will “swallow” all the revenue from frozen tax thresholds that are dragging millions of workers into paying higher rates, analysis has found. The Centre for Social Justice has said that the £33bn increase in benefits spending between 2027 and 2032 will broadly match a rise in projected receipts from frozen income tax [...]
Healey’s self-assessment tax shakeup could lead to ‘brutal cash crunch’ for self-employed Tax Chancellor John Healey’s decision to overhaul the self-assessment tax system has sparked concerns among tax advisers, as they question whether this will harm Britain’s self-employed. Healey confirmed in his maiden Autumn Budget that the government will change how income tax self-assessment (ITSA) taxpayers make their Payments on Accounts. Payments on Account are advance payments made [...]
Budget 2026: Football players warned over looming image rights tax changes October 29, 2026 Football clubs and players have been warned of looming changes unveiled in the Budget that will see image rights taxed like wages. Chancellor John Healey’s Budget document, released on Wednesday, stated that “the government will clarify that image rights payments related to an employment are taxable as employment income and taxed in the same way [...]
Capital gains tax incentive may benefit but ‘disrupt’ professional services sector October 28, 2026 The new capital gains tax incentive Chancellor John Healey unveiled in his Budget may benefit LLP firms in the professional services sector if they qualify, but it also risks disrupting partner dynamics within the firms. Healey announced the so-called ‘Founder’s Relief’ capital gains tax (CGT) incentive in his Budget speech on Wednesday in a bid [...]
Budget 2026: Healey grants HMRC sweeping powers to chase tax debts October 28, 2026 John Healey has given HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) more funding and sweeping powers “to collect overdue tax from those who can clearly afford to pay but ignore repeated contact”, in yet another clampdown on tax debts. The move marks a major expansion of the taxman’s power and comes amid the government’s push to stamp [...]
Possible tax hikes for LLPs in Budget may ‘distort’ the market and push firms overseas October 27, 2026 Despite the professional services sector dodging tax hikes on LLPs in last year’s Budget, it remains unclear whether Chancellor John Healey will impose tax changes this time round, but Rosie Harris-Davison writes that experts have warned against any tax burdens on the sector. In the lead-up to last year’s Budget, whispers circulated for weeks that [...]
Budget 2026: Will Chancellor help or hinder football finances? October 26, 2026 While the Autumn Budget always prompts speculation in finance, hospitality or retail, its impact on football should not be underestimated. Clubs are still reckoning with the impact of the previous new measures in recent Budget announcements, with even more shortly on their way. At a time when the books of England’s biggest clubs are under [...]
Supreme Court blocks Scottish Power’s £28m tax write-off October 21, 2026 The Supreme Court has ruled that the energy giant, Scottish Power, cannot deduct £28m in regulatory settlement payments from its taxable corporate profits after a lengthy legal battle with HMRC. The legal case stems from a probe by the energy regulator Ofgem into Scottish Power between 2013 and 2016 regarding mis-selling, poor complaints handling, and [...]
Was the transfer window impacted by UK tax rules? October 17, 2026 This summer’s transfer window again showed the purchasing power of the Premier League, with almost £3.5bn being spent on transfer fees. And, while there were players being bought from foreign teams, there was also a significant number of very high value transfers between Premier League clubs this summer, which is notable compared to previous transfer [...]