HMRC’S curiosity over the tax affairs of Dundee United and 32 other football clubs across the UK begins with the story of a refrigerator belonging to a fruit and veg wholesaler in Glasgow.
In 2021 Robbie Patterson, owner of James Mackie Wholesale Ltd, was introduced to ZLX – a firm billing themselves as research and development tax experts.
R&D tax relief was created in 2000. The aim was to fund and facilitate advances in science and technology such as a new drug or a form of artificial intelligence.
ZLX, a firm established by former Hamilton Academical director Stephen McCallion, advised the wholesaler that installing a cold room could attract £30,000 in R&D tax relief.
Robbie Patterson’s accountant took a different view. And when James Mackie Wholesalers changed their minds over making an R&D relief claim ZLX pursued legal action in pursuit of the £8000 fee they believed they would have received if the the transaction had gone ahead.
In Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Stuart Reid was critical of ZLX and rejected the claim. The subsequent publicity concerning a tax row over a fridge attracted the the interest of Dan Neidle, a former lawyer with one of the world’s largest law firms. Niedle advised corporates, governments, regulators and central banks now runs Tax Policy Associates, a not-for-profit company found to improve tax and legal policy and public understanding of the complex issues involved.
As he tells Herald Sport now: “Not only did ZLX think that they could make a claim for a fridge but then they got the poor guy, the greengrocer, in to court to try and force him to do it. And they were humiliated.”
The case prompted Neidle – a thorn in the side of former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Baroness Michelle Mone - to pay closer attention to some of the other R&D tax relief claims submitted by ZLX and he found that Dundee United were one of a number of British football clubs to have benefitted from the scheme. Hibernian, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest were others and it’s now believed that 33 clubs in the UK are under investigation by HMRC.
United face a £600,000 bill after the club was order to repay a portion of its successful £1.28m claim for research and development tax relief. The tax relief claim covered 24 per cent of staff and player wages from July 1 2021, to June 30 2022. The Tannadice club also claimed for 80% of the club nutritionist’s salary, 90% of the player analyst’s salary and 21 % of the Tannadice heating and lighting bill.
“R&D relief is designed for people who are being completely innovative and in sport the first people who did data analytics in football could have claimed R&D tax credits for that,” explains Neidle. “That’s a legitimate innovation.
“It’s possible that clubs might be doing innovative scientific work, you don’t want to say it never happens.
“But not in this Dundee United case. Not based on the description given.
“And you certainly can’t claim in court for staff wages as if your players are out there doing scientific research.
“Some people have said that maybe Dundee United didn’t know what they were doing, that maybe they were just misled by ZLX. Whatever the reason it’s difficult to see how they could have thought that this was legitimate.”
Dundee United’s tax relief claim centred around The United Lab. Launched in April 2020 the project was set up by former Sporting Director Tony Ashgar, recruitment coordinator Sean McGee, performance consultant Ryland Morgans and head of football research Dan Parnell to broker “new channels for ideas and innovation.”
All four men have now left the club with a Dundee United statement to the Courier confirming that the lab had ceased to exist in 2023.
A spokesperson said: “Dundee United Football Club can confirm we remain in constructive dialogue with HMRC regarding a Research and Development (R&D) tax claim submitted in 2021.
“As this is an ongoing process, we are unable to comment further on the details of the matter at this time. However, the club is fully engaged in the discussions and remains confident in a satisfactory outcome of the process for both parties.
“The R&D initiative known as ‘The Dundee United Lab’ ceased operations in March 2023 and no longer exists in any form, with all personnel previously involved in the project no longer employed or affiliated with the club in any capacity.”
The plot thickened further when United’s former finance director denied signing the document made public by Neidle last week.
Employed at Tannadice between December 2018 and April 2023 Derek Bond – now a partner with Edinburgh firm Bond Accountants - is seeking legal advice after claiming the signature on the document was not his. The co-signatory on the document was ZLX Business Solutions consultant David Purvis.
“The document I’ve seen that purports to have my signature on it, isn’t my signature,’ he told The Courier.
“You can see on the document that someone has just typed ‘Derek Bond’.
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“That’s not my signature on that document.
“I’ve spoken with a solicitor about that document. I’ve not signed that document.”
Distancing himself from the HMRC investigation he added: “It’s galling, I don’t want to be attached.
“There’s a document with my name on it. I’m not saying it’s forged. But somebody’s typed my name and made it look like my signature but it is definitely not my signature.”
While ZLX has yet to comment, Dundee United has assured fans the “historical matter has no impact on the club’s current or future operations”.
“HMRC won’t say anything on the record,” adds Neidle. “But I think they woke up rather late to the ways in which this R&D scheme was being abused. But it is an abuse.
“HMRC are pretty sure they will be able to get the cash back on this one. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they try to charge penalties as well. Whether Dundee United can pay those as well is an interesting question.
“This is money which is being taken from the pockets of taxpayers at a time when we are all paying more tax because of the lack of tax revenue going into the government this is making it worse for everybody else.
“So, yes, it’s an example of football taking money from the rest of us and it’s not on.
“There is also a question, I think, for the Scottish League on the grounds of financial fairness. Generating free money by making fake tax claims doesn’t seem very fair.
“It may need to go a little further but, really, the football rules should say that clubs are not allowed to do anything improper when it comes to tax.”
While SPFL rules on HMRC obligations allow for punishment of tax arrears any disputed claim against a member club by the tax authorities can’t be actioned “until such time as a final determination is made on HMRC’s claim.”
In 2024 Hibernian also banked £1.2million in tax relief earmarked for research and development and Niedle believes the issue extends well beyond the boundaries of the SPFL Premiership.
“Across the UK we think 33 clubs are being investigated by HMRC across the UK over sums totally £13million.
“It’s possible that some of them are not as crap as Dundee United’s claim. It’s equally possible that some of them are worse.”
Earlier this year Neidle was invited to speak on a radio programme about the impact of Employee Benefits Trusts on football clubs in Britain. The financial impact on Rangers on the scheme proved catastrophic in 2012, posing an obvious question. When will football clubs actually learn their lesson when it comes to iffy tax schemes?
“You will know the answer to that better than me.
“The problem is that when you put that money into the pockets of well paid footballers public sympathy is likely to be thin on the ground.
“But I suspect that people who are desperate for money are not as critical as they should be when they are faced with free bags of cash…”
