Former footballer and later Sky Sports presenter, Neil McCann, has lost his battle with HM Revenue and Customs, leaving him with a £210,000 tax bill.
The former footballer took his appeal to the Upper Tier Tribunal, which was dismissed on Friday (April 5).
He had escalated his case after an appeal was dismissed at the First Tier Tribunal in March 2022.
The pundit argued off payroll working rules saying he worked as a freelancer, known as IR35, did not apply to his company McCann Media Limited.
But the Upper Tier Tribunal agreed that McCann's contract with Sky could not be considered business on his own account.
It agreed with HMRC's claim that he therefore should have made national insurance payments for work between 2013 and 2018.
Seb Maley, CEO of IR35 consultancy Qdos, said: “This is the latest in a long line of IR35 cases that highlight the devastating financial impact this legislation can have.
"Neil McCann won’t have set out to break the IR35 rules but has been saddled with a tax bill in the region of £210,000."
Maley said the case showed the importance of contracts being reviewed from an IR35 perspective.
He added: "The sheer complexity of this legislation means that honest mistakes are easily made, but as evidenced by this case, HMRC has little sympathy.”
While Dave Chaplin, CEO of IR35 compliance firm IR35 Shield, said the case shows once a decision has been made at First Tier Tribunal, it is hard for it to be overturned.
He said: "Of the six IR35 cases to date that have been appealed to the Upper Tribunal and received final judgments, only one case has ever been successfully appealed, demonstrating the very high bar necessary to overturn a decision by the First-tier tribunal in IR35 cases.
"The key lessons for taxpayers heading to first-tier tax tribunal is to ensure the facts of the case are comprehensively corroborated and presented, because once the FTT has made it’s decision, it’s very hard to overturn."
HMRC was contacted for comment.
Earlier this year, HMRC’s 10-year tax battle with Loose Women presenter Kaye Adams' came to an end after the tax authority revealed it would not appeal the court's decision.
It came after a First Tier Tribunal judgement in November 2023 on the case of Atholl House Products, Adams’ company, which ruled she was outside of IR35 legislation.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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