Gary Lineker has won his appeal against HMRC over a £4.9m tax bill.
The UK tax authority pursued the star over taxes on income from both the BBC and BT Sport from 2013 to 2014 and 2017 to 2018.
Mr Lineker wrote on social media: “I had already paid all tax due at the top rate and happily so. I’m totally flabbergasted as to why I was expected to pay double. Thankfully justice was done.”
In a 17-page ruling, Judge John Brooks said: “The effect of my conclusions is that because there were direct contracts, between the BBC and Mr Lineker and BT Sport and Mr Lineker, the intermediaries legislation (IR35) does not, and cannot as a matter of law, apply.
Following the news Lineker said, via a spokesperson: “I am pleased that the tribunal has confirmed that I have not failed to pay any taxes or national insurance by reason of the IR35 rules.”
Joylon Maugham tweeted out the verdict and wrote: “This was always likely to be the outcome. Some real questions to answer about HMRC’s motivations for bringing this case.”
A few people replied saying similar to this…
Refugees
After all of the furore about Lineker’s comments about government immigration policy this statistic from Private Eye says a lot.
They report that 5,626 complaints were made to the BBC over his tweets about asylum seekers.
However, there were 27,39 complaints about the ex-footballers treatment.
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Related: Refugees: Gary Lineker destroys troll and it’s wonderful
