A&H

Referees are self-employed

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It’s only round one, watch this space!!!! They lost the Rangers tax case many times before finally winning, those who know the intricacies will know what’s coming in 2019!
 
Yampy said:
http://www.contractorweekly.com/tax...il&utm_term=0_b17da52d19-2140b30a40-293173789

This is PGMOL-centric but surely the impact is across all referees in England and Wales. There's around 28000 referees in England but obviously HMRC feels as though they must be worth pursuing. I'm sure there're more lucrative targets they could look at.
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This only covers referees, I assume, from international to panel that are appointed by PGMOL.
The 28000 or so referees are probably a different kettle of fish. I wonder how many of those 28000 declare their additional incomes from refereeing.
 
On the subject of this, what do you guys normally claim as expenses against your income?

Obviously there's the cost of the kit, travel, registration, course etc. But talking to my dad who has his own business, he suggested that I could also do this against gym membership, a new laptop (as you'll need it for reports).

I was wondering if you guys claim anything like this?
 
There's probably a whole raft of "expenses" that could potentially be claimed from HMRC with regards to refereeing. Somebody once told me that a Sky Sports subscription on the basis of "research and keeping current" could even figure in it. :D

Fact is, because I can't be bothered with the intricacies of it, or to declare my meagre ad hoc cash-in-hand fees to the tax man, I don't worry about it. :)
 
Trueman1991 said:
On the subject of this, what do you guys normally claim as expenses against your income?

Obviously there's the cost of the kit, travel, registration, course etc. But talking to my dad who has his own business, he suggested that I could also do this against gym membership, a new laptop (as you'll need it for reports).

I was wondering if you guys claim anything like this?
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Often wondered myself what I can get away with.
There's laundry as kit has to be washed. There's electricty, phone and broadband bills. But the taxman can argue you would have these anyway. If you're out around lunchtime, when you arent normally sure you could claim lunch purchase. I've no idea how to calculate it all so I tend to just claim for thr basic stuff - mileage, equipment etc.
 
Padfoot said:
HMRC will simply get the regulations changed and then go after them again......
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Knowing a bit about taxation, HMRC would be wasting money to appeal this. It was trying to get everybody under PGMOL appointments to be taxed as employees. That would mean a big change in process.

This will never apply further down, as the CFA or the league would be your employer, pay you, account for the tax associated. Clubs would pay the league for your services, that would create fun....
 
They spent millions on chasing Rednapps dog! Once they win they set precedents! Then it’s retrospective my friends! Just ask Gary Barlow!
 
This comes around every few years - HMRC have always found it to be more trouble than it's worth at grass roots level. The people they are after are the upper tier referees for whom this is more than a hobby, but not their main income. At Sunday league level by the time you've paid for new kit, whistles, match cards etc, paid for travel to the game, washed kit and sent reports afterwards, if anyone is making a profit out of refereeing then they obviously do a lot more games than I do - and I do a lot of games. I have to get two pairs of boots now, which are claimable.

The last time this came up our branch advised us to keep receipts for expenses in case we heard from the tax man. I believe they got as far as asking a few people to account for their income from the game and decided that they would lose money from people claiming back tax, instead of getting hundreds / thousands in extra tax from 28,000 grass roots referees, so they did not proceed any further.
 
JamesL said:
Often wondered myself what I can get away with.
There's laundry as kit has to be washed. There's electricty, phone and broadband bills. But the taxman can argue you would have these anyway. If you're out around lunchtime, when you arent normally sure you could claim lunch purchase. I've no idea how to calculate it all so I tend to just claim for thr basic stuff - mileage, equipment etc.
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I thought about this too. I don't think you could claim it all but surely you should be able to argue a percentage of the bill.

I never actually thought about lunch so that's definitely a good one to remember.
 
The officials they went after had been given several employment rights by the PGMO due to pressure from the prospect union. Is it any surprise the tax man came after them?
 
I remember a fire service colleague being invited for an "interview" with HMRC. The story goes that he was flatly denying all allegations that he had income from a window cleaning round that he had not declared.
The taxman eventually hard enough and said "What ever Mr X, we have made an assessment and calculate you earned several thousand pounds and owe us (insert figure you cannot afford)". At this point Mr x said"I never earned that effing much".

And it had been going so well.........
 
Not really the same type of tax avoidance but look at the timeline of the appeals and the eventual victory by HMRC and then the retribution for those who beniffitted, and the restrospectivity (Sp) too!!! Be warned!!! This was worth BILLIONS to the HMRC, many, many many billions!!!!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40505839
 
This really only applies to L3 and above, unless referees below that level are refereeing hundreds of games a season, but we were given guidance.

You can claim for any kit or equipment purchased necessary to perform your role, as well as any travel to mandatory training events, registration, and a percentage of your "office expenses". You can't claim for things that aren't necessary, which include laundry (as you can put your kit in with other clothes), gym membership (as your "employers" don't insist that you train in a gym), dry cleaning of suits, etc.
 
RustyRef said:
This really only applies to L3 and above, unless referees below that level are refereeing hundreds of games a season, but we were given guidance.

You can claim for any kit or equipment purchased necessary to perform your role, as well as any travel to mandatory training events, registration, and a percentage of your "office expenses". You can't claim for things that aren't necessary, which include laundry (as you can put your kit in with other clothes), gym membership (as your "employers" don't insist that you train in a gym), dry cleaning of suits, etc.
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Not really true. I dont referee 100s of games, yet after expenses I still have taxable income of over £600.
 
Idk where I could find 600 worth of expenses. I claim for all kit, new boots I buy that I dont need. All mileage inc. to meetings I dont get paid to attend. I assume I cant claim for phone and broadband as I would have these anyway plus broadband is free for me due to employment so nothing to claim. Cant claim laundry, as above. What exactly else can I claim for?
 
JamesL said:
Not really true. I dont referee 100s of games, yet after expenses I still have taxable income of over £600.
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Since 6/4/17, HMRC have introduced a £1000 allowance for "other income", which may be otherwise taxable. It was done to allow small eBay traders, but also covers your refereeing income. So £600 would be not taxable.
 
A friend used to be a nationalrep and booked all his mileage as business miles for all his career from his home address all over the country. They were investigated by HMRC and 2 employees got retrospective demands for 7 years, they estimated 17k and had kept no suplimentry records to fight back so we’re both stung. Their place of work was about 7 miles away and failed to minus that off every day. Nasty f@&£)£s them tax men!
 
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