Newcastle Utd launches legal action against HMRC tax raids

A UK high court has banned HMRC from examining material seized from Newcastle United’s football stadium following a legal challenge mounted by the club.

Newcastle Utd launches legal action against HMRC tax raids

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Premier League clubs Newcastle and West Ham were raided in April by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in conjunction with French authorities over a suspected £5m of income tax and national insurance fraud in transfer deals with French club Marseille.

The ban will stay in place until a court hearing on 22 June while the high court considers a judicial review launched by Newcastle against HMRC.

In the meantime, the judge in the case ordered HMRC to return any material seized from the raids, which included business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones.

On 22 June, Newcastle will have to show it has an arguable case to take to a full judicial review hearing.

At the interim hearing on 8 June, no details of the grounds of the club’s challenge were revealed in court.

As part of the tax probe, HMRC also visited Chelsea football club, requesting “certain information”, which the club said it has provided.

No allegations of wrongdoing have been made against the club.

Football tax scandals

Football clubs and their players have repeatedly come under scrutiny in recent years following several high-profile cases.  

In early April, HMRC confirmed that it will visit all English Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premier League clubs in the next three years to review payments made to players.

Last year, the UK tax office said it is currently investigating 43 football players and 12 clubs over their use of offshore companies to avoid paying tax on money earned through image rights in the UK, with a senior official revealing HMRC has clawed back £158m ($199m, €186m) in the last two years.

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