Football club intermediary payments

Football clubs and players have long been a target of HMRC (and its predecessors’) attention going back to the House of Lords’ consideration of the income tax consequences of non-playing periods in Albion Rovers in 1952. However the scrutiny and attention has heightened significantly in recent years. The biggest consequence for clubs seeking to remain compliant has been the substantial increase in the need for detailed record keeping. While this increase in compliance burden is not unique to the football industry there are some unique areas that place a particular burden on the clubs including renewed attention on the tax treatment of payments to intermediaries in the context of transfers and image rights arrangements alongside playing contracts.

Intermediary payment data

The Football Association (FA) in England has released new data showing the number of intermediary payments made by football clubs to agents that relate to...