Gary Lineker may have won his IR35 challenge, but it still came at a price. A price to the tune of £400k: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gary-linkeker-tax-bill-legal-costs-rl3rjhvwd
Imagine the feeling, you open the post one day to a letter from HMRC confirming they would like to review your business operations. This is par for the course when you run a business, but your stomach still drops at the prospect and hassle of dealing with it.
This is no routine compliance check however and is instead of part of a large HMRC campaign. HMRC have a point to prove in this sector and will be hell-bent on hitting you where it hurts – your pockets.
You instruct legal experts to handle the enquiry who confirm you haven’t done anything wrong. HMRC dig their heels-in however and keep pursuing the line of enquiry. Meanwhile, it is made public knowledge that you are under HMRC enquiry, and your name gets dragged through the mud, even though you haven’t done anything wrong.
This legal wrangling lasts for years and is very time-consuming and stressful. You have argue your case at the tax tribunal because HMRC won’t back down and continue their crusade as it is part of a large campaign that needs results).
Your day in court arrives and the tribunal judge confirms that IR35 cannot apply to your case and should never have been pursued by HMRC. The nightmare is over and for a fleeting moment, you are happy. That is until you get the bill for the legal fees, and despite winning your case, you still must pay £400k. That doesn’t seem fair or just and to really rub salt into the wound, HMRC are considering appealing the decision to the Upper-tier Tax Tribunal. You might have to go through this all over again.
This is the pain and cost involved in winning an HMRC challenge! Losing therefore simply cannot be an option.
You shouldn’t put yourself through this heartache, cost and worry? Speak with Marble so there is no need to have the argument in the first place.
