HMRC coming for footballers and will scour Instagram for tax intel

Buried away in the documents released alongside the Budget was a new report published by HMRC that reveals sports professionals and those involved in professional football such as players and agents are to become even more of a focus area for the Treasury. Coupled with the Chancellor’s announcement of new investment in HMRC compliance activity which will see a further 670 compliance officers recruited by 2029-30, on top of the 5,500 previously announced, it paints a very clear picture. More compliance staff will mean HMRC is able to widen the net and spend more time poring over taxpayers affairs, looking at more players and possibly reaching down to more divisions below the Premier League. There has already been a notable increase in HMRC compliance activity in sports in general, including not just football but also motorsport, boxing and other individual sports such as tennis and golf. But the announcements this week signal that this scrutiny is likely to increase over the n