Rangers' overcharged £50m in tax bill which led to liquidation, according to reports

A £50million blunder by HM Revenue & Customs may have resulted in Rangers going bust, it has been revealed.

The Times report that the club are set to have a mammoth £50million wiped from the tax bill which regarded the club's use of employee benefit trust (EBTs) - a tax avoidance scheme - between 2001 and 2010 to pay players when under the ownership of Sir David Murray.

Financial sources, claim The Times, believe the bill to likely be around £20million, the equivalent of £2million-per-year, between 2001 and 2010.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is felt by ex-Rangers chairman John McClelland that such a figure would have been more feasible to work with and may not have led to the club going into administration, followed by liquidation, in 2012 under Craig Whyte, who bought the club for £1.

Rangers were on the receiving end of an HMRC blunder. Picture: SNSRangers were on the receiving end of an HMRC blunder. Picture: SNS
Rangers were on the receiving end of an HMRC blunder. Picture: SNS

He told The Times: “At the time of the sale of the club in 2011, had the tax claim been at the level now being reported then, in my opinion, the outcome would have been different.

“I believe there would certainly have been a much higher level of interest in acquiring it and therefore more potential buyers.”

With the club's inability to pay tax, it led to HMRC - the largest creditor - "voted against a rescue proposal".

The club were then voted back into the Scottish leagues but at the fourth tier.

An accountant whom spoke to The Times said HMRC have had to drop penalties in thousands of cases relating to the use of EBTs.