(March 2011): Revenue and Customs Wins £100m from Premier League Clubs for Overuse of Image Rights Tax Avoidance Scheme

HM Revenue and Customs comes to an agreement with Premier League clubs that they will pay it £100m for overusing image rights clauses in players’ contracts. In addition to salary for paying football, clubs have increasingly been paying players compensation for use of their image rights, which is taxed at a lower rate. However, Revenue and Customs now successfully argues that a portion of the image rights payments were disguised salary, and the clubs pay around £100m to avoid legal proceedings. [SportsPro, 2/25/2011] The exact date of the agreement is unknown, although the agreement is reported as being imminent in February 2011 and to have been signed by 2012. [SportsPro, 2/25/2011; Guardian, 2/8/2012] The exact amounts paid by all clubs are unknown. However, Chelsea will later reveal their portion of the bill is £6.4m. [Guardian, 2/8/2012]