Premier League football clubs are being scrutinised for structuring their payments to football agents with an estimate of around £470 million in lost revenue since 2015, Tax Policy Associates (TPA) have reported.

The player contracts are said to be structured so the agent acts on behalf of the club and the player so employment taxes and VAT in commissions paid to the agents can be avoided.  The club pays half of the fees and the player pays the other half out of their after-tax income this means there are no taxable benefits from the player’s perspective, no employer NICs on the half paid by the club and the club can also claim VAT back.

The TPA argues the case that the agent is always acting on behalf of the player and not the club as the contract structure suggests. 

These claims have been dismissed by the Sports Tax Association who say ‘based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between agents and clubs’ and the agent would always work for both player and club.