London Broncos say they’ve paid tax bill owed to HMRC
London Broncos owners say they have paid their tax bill after being hit with a winding-up petition by HMRC on Monday.
The second-tier rugby league side, who are looking to join the top-flight Super League, were slapped with the petition by the taxman on Monday under their London Rugby League Limited parent company relating to unpaid tax covering August and September.
But the club insists it has paid its outstanding tax of around £166,000, and blamed the delay on a change of address which was registered on Companies House on 10 September. Half of the owed amount has been outstanding for less than a week, the club stated.
“We changed our address with Companies House at the start of September from our old address at Rosslyn Park to our new one at Hazelwood,” the club’s co-owner, Australian mining magnate Grant Wechsel, told City AM.
“We didn’t receive a notice, we got alerted by a third party this morning, and we’ve paid it in full [on Monday].”
London Broncos ‘pay in full’
London Broncos beat Oldham 74-8 on Sunday in the Betfred Championship play-off and will take on Doncaster in the grand final match. There will be no automatic promotion to the Super League, but the club hope their dominance of the second tier and their links to the Australian NRL through co-owner and Brisbane Broncos legend Darren Lockyer can secure them a spot in the top flight next year.
The NRL is in talks with English rugby league chiefs about an investment from the world-leading Australian competition.
A HMRC spokesperson said: “We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we’ve exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers’ money.”
The club was purchased by Wechsel, Lockyer and former Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington in September 2025 with property developer Andrew Gray and sports management firm Playerworks’ founder David Dixon joining the consortium this year. Broncos play their home games at AFC Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records Stadium.