Derby saying survival depends on HMRC writing off a TWENTY MILLION pound debt. Otherwise liquidation. Will the HMRC make WRDCFC and example, or will they crumble?
My local club, King’s Lynn FC, were wound up because of a £70,000 tax bill, why should WRDCFC get treated any differently?
Derby should be made to sell assets to pay. However I suspect a deal will be done, if the club liquidate HMRC get naff all so as much as they play hardball they’ll know what’s what
What I always fail to understand ............ and I get that my business is tiny compared to a top football club and probably operates a different model ......... is why, if I fail to pay a quarterly VAT bill, or an annual corporation tax bill, or God-forbid my PAYE, do HMRC chase me down and threaten me with repossession, fines, directorship bans, and do so within weeks, yet a big organisation can accumulate that amount of debt over a long period of time? Surely there has to be a mechanism in place to prevent it getting to that point. Even a club like Bury, who would stuggle to pay a £1m debt .......... how does it even get to that stage?
They reckon they have no assets to sell. Morris had already bought the ground (a la Chansiri model) and that would have easily been the biggest asset. Derby fans screaming at Morris to pay the bill, as he is reputedly worth half a billion, and he engineered the mess.
Earlier in year, we just plain forgot to pay our quarterly VAT bill and paid it at 9am the next day(as we remembered about 11 at night). We got a letter through telling us we had been naughty but would let us off but if we did it again etc. In all our years trading we had never missed a deadline prior. One rule for one
belik and Lawrence might bring in 5 million quid. I’m reading if a deal with HMRC is done then a 12 point penalty is imposed, dangerous ground here as a mid table club could take this option to save cash!
Also a pointless penalty(no pun intended), unless it goes onto next year as it won’t have an impact on Derby
There is a really dangerous precedent that could be set here. Any reduction is just going to give free rein for clubs who are safe from relegation(and can eat the points deduction) to use the admin process as a way to clear any debt they owe to HMRC. I'd have no issue if they came to an agreement of knocking off say, 10% then agreeing on a payment plan for the rest(but only if they can show HMRC that there is a clear plan in place to operate well within their own means going forward, and the HMRC have the ability to call the full balance in at any point if it looks like Derby are throwing money around again). But under no circumstances should any debt(owed to anyone really, not just HMRC) be slashed massively...
There is the old observation about banks that probably applies. If you owe the bank (HMRC) £1, you've got a problem. If you owe the bank £1m, they've got a problem.
There is a club here in Scotland who were liquidated but the ground was never sold to help write off the huge debts. HMRC bottled doing the right thing. They still survive with the word The in their new name. They still have a mountain of debt. I feel Derby will survive unlike many small clubs, Bury being a prime example who just did not matter.
It would be my experience that HMRC won't do a deal. They will issue a 28-day statutory demand then petition to wind up in the High Court. At that point the club can and probably will file for administration. A Company Voluntary Arrangement would then follow where HMRC will take a share of their debt from a pre-packed or third-party buyout. Football debts will be paid in full to ensure the place n the league is returned, otherwise, there will be no buyout. Rinse and repeat with Derby. The football authorities will welcome the next shyster ready to keep the over-inflated football merry-go-round spinning.
Yes, I recall this, they play in blue. The only time I can think of that HMRC actually pressed liquidation.
Liquidate Derby. Scrap the EFL. Abolish HMRC. All equally guilty in letting the inmates take over the asylum.