Partner Article

Cricket seemingly never off HMRC's agenda

With the Ashes starting this week Down Under, cricket is back on the general news agenda. It seems however that cricket has never been off HMRC’s agenda as the department continues to keep up the pressure on community based cricket clubs.

To recap, this issue revolves around HMRC primarily focussing on the employment status of village club players and hitting those clubs with substantial demands for back tax. In some cases this has been without a proper status investigation being undertaken by HMRC.

When tax is found to have been underpaid, clubs are seeing HMRC adopt an aggressive and inconsistent approach to penalties. Worryingly, it seems that HMRC may be leading some clubs into a trap by encouraging them to accept a settlement of the tax and interest without making it clear that penalties are also going to be charged.

If HMRC carry through the imposition of penalties, the very future of some village cricket clubs may be at stake, particularly if facilities for junior cricketers are withdrawn due to lack of funds. This will not only potentially harm the grassroots of English cricket but is also at odds with the Olympic legacy that the Government has been so keen to pursue.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Baker Tilly .