Football's Financial Shame documentary

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

Anyone else watched it? About a load of Premier League footballers from the 90s who lost millions to dodgy financial advisors and are now facing bankruptcy as HMRC pursue them for unpaid tax bills incurred on their disastrous investments.

Worth a watch - on the BBC iPlayer.

[Feedback]

Anyone else watched it? About a load of Premier League footballers from the 90s who lost millions to dodgy financial advisors and are now facing bankruptcy as HMRC pursue them for unpaid tax bills incurred on their disastrous investments.

Worth a watch - on the BBC iPlayer.

if they just paid their fair share then they would not have lost anything. but no, earning film star money was not enough, they had to pay less tax than the pizza delivery guy.

no sympathy at all

if something is too good to be true, then it usually is.

[az city]

if they just paid their fair share then they would not have lost anything. but no, earning film star money was not enough, they had to pay less tax than the pizza delivery guy.

no sympathy at all

if something is too good to be true, then it usually is.

I haven't watched it but did read the BBC (puff piece) write-up but I don't remember them mentioning the tax aspects. Were they attracted by tax avoidance? If so, Feeds I agree with you.

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

if they just paid their fair share then they would not have lost anything. but no, earning film star money was not enough, they had to pay less tax than the pizza delivery guy.

no sympathy at all

if something is too good to be true, then it usually is.

I haven't watched it but did read the BBC (puff piece) write-up but I don't remember them mentioning the tax aspects. Were they attracted by tax avoidance? If so, Feeds I agree with you.

A government backed scheme to encourage investment in the British film industry in exchange for tax breaks was involved, but it was more complicated than just trying to avoid tax. The film scheme was tied to various property investments that were massively overvalued and all went tits up. Sometimes the players' signatures were forged on deals they say they knew nothing about.
I completely agree that loopholes that allow the rich to pay less tax than the rest of us should be closed, but it looks like the players were just told "we'll take care of everything" by the advisors and let them. Naive, yes, but the advisors clearly exploited the opportunity.