NEWCASTLE UNITED have coughed up £10million to settle a long-running tax battle with HMRC – including millions in legal fees and costs from the row.
The club faced a £6.25m bill – before lawyer costs and interest was added on.
Tax experts believe the final cost could even top £10m after HMRC added an additional 10 years worth of interest payments on top.
One footie expert said: “The final cost to the club is extremely likely to have tipped over £10million, once HMRC’s compound interest rates are factored in.”
The Geordies’ owners Public Investment Fund agreed to fork out the multi-million sum to the tax man to end a long-running spat that dated back to Mike Ashley’s ownership.
Despite fighting the tax bill through the courts, PIF also secretly paid out millions to stop further interest charges being added.
An investigation into agents’ fees and Newcastle had been going on since 2014.
In April 2017, as part of a criminal investigation, officers raided the club and seized documents and computers.
Nine months after the raid, the club was hit with the demands for unpaid taxes for the period between 2011 and 2017.
The criminal investigation was dropped in 2021.
However, the High Court last year agreed with HMRC’s demands for the club to pay £4.25m in unpaid national insurance contributions and £2m in unpaid VAT payments.
The club said in its most recent accounts: “Newcastle received assessments from HMRC relating to alleged underpayment of tax and national insurance, and interest thereon arising from HMRC activity prior to 2017.
“The group appealed and made a cash payment which halted the further interest on any outstanding amounts.
“The amount that has been claimed by HMRC has been assessed and an accrual has been made in the Group’s financial statements.”
