Emile Heskey, the former England striker, has been fined almost £42,000 by HM Revenue & Customs and has been placed on a list of “deliberate tax defaulters”.
The 44-year-old, who played 62 times for his country, won multiple accolades with Liverpool and Leicester City and made millions in a 20-year career, was found to have defaulted on £92,161 in tax while working as a “footballer” . Development Officer” between April 2017 and April 2020.
He was charged with aggregate fines of £41,933.25 during a spell that coincided with spell coaching at Cheshire League One club Egerton.
An HMRC spokesperson said: “We are committed to making sure people pay the tax they owe. For the minority that refuses to pay, HMRC has a range of resources available and we can publish the names of those who have been punished under civil suits for deliberately failing to meet certain tax obligations.
“This is about influencing behavior by encouraging defaulters to do business with HMRC.”
Heskey is currently in charge of the Leicester women’s team. He had returned to the club in September 2020 in an ambassadorial role to support the development of the women’s game, before becoming head of women’s football development just over a year later.
HMRC said the publication of names such as Heskey not only encouraged willful tax defaulters to come forward, but was also intended as a deterrent to others and to show that “the government is serious about tackling evasion and non-compliance by making sure everyone pays their fair share, creating a level playing field for honest people and businesses, and taking action against the minority who try to evade tax”.
Last week, it emerged that a record 329 professional footballers were under investigation by HMRC for alleged tax avoidance last season – up from just 93 the season before – and 31 clubs and 91 agents were also investigated. Since 2015, more than £560 million in football-related tax has been collected amid an anti-circumvention crackdown over image rights deals and the launch of a ‘Football Compliance Project’.
Elliott Buss, a partner at accounting group UHY Hacker Young, said: “The Football Compliance Project joining HMRC’s elite fraud unit means the IRS is deeply concerned about the significant amounts of unpaid tax in sport.”
In November 2017, the Sun newspaper reported that HMRC had filed a case in the Supreme Court against Heskey over a £1.7 million bill related to a £700 million tax relief scheme for the wealthy.
Heskey was reportedly faced with a demand for money he owed for eight years while playing for Liverpool, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa and Australia’s Newcastle Jets.
The bill would be linked to an investment in ingenious ‘partnerships’, which were eligible for tax breaks intended to support British film production.
Heskey’s attorneys allegedly filed a 19-page defense denying he was a partner in the scheme, insisting he was only a member, and alleging that the payment notices were illegal and incorrectly summed.
Heskey was not immediately available for comment.