14 Premiership football clubs domiciled offshore- WTF?

[seafoid]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/20/no-game-for-poor-countries

The scale of debt under which many of England's top football clubs now labour (Questions over health of Premier League, Sport, 19 May) is indeed a matter of concern. So too is the number of top-flight football clubs now based offshore. Owners using tax havens have been able to hide the financial meltdown of a number of clubs from view until too late. Stakeholders, club supporters in particular, have been betrayed and the football authorities caught napping.
Christian Aid recently sought to establish the true ownership of every club in the four top English leagues, the Scottish and Welsh Premier leagues and the Irish League in Northern Ireland. We discovered that 14 English Premier League clubs and a further five in the Championship, together with one in League One and two in the Scottish Premier League, were now based offshore.
In the developing world, that same secrecy leads to tax dodging on a truly massive scale. We estimate that every year, the revenue lost to developing countries amounts to $160bn – around one-and-a-half times the size of the international aid budget. If available to use, it could save the lives of some 350,000 children under five every year. Financial secrecy comes at a price. For football fans, it can jeopardise the existence of their clubs. In developing countries, financial secrecy costs lives.
Alex Cobham
Chief policy adviser, Christian Aid

[The Iceman]

Almost every company with any kind of revenue has an offshore holding company.  Its called estate tax planning.  Rightly or wrongly its how the business world works.

[armaghniac]

and the Irish League in Northern Ireland.

Were they interested in giving aid to this lot?

[magickingdom]

im more worried about the number of offshore fans they have

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

List of clubs and where their based on page 18.
Interesting to see that the quintessentially British club loyal through and through try to avoid putting tax back into the economy - well done Rangers, rule Britannia and all that crap.


http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/blowing-the-whistle-caweek-report.pdf

[dubai2000]

List of clubs and where their based on page 18.
Interesting to see that the quintessentially British club loyal through and through try to avoid putting tax back into the economy - well done Rangers, rule Britannia and all that crap.


http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/blowing-the-whistle-caweek-report.pdf

if Rangers make a profit they would pay thier taxes to HMRC, as would all clubs in britain, regardless of where the holding company of the club would be located