Allardyce: HMRC the ‘most corrupt business’ in Britain

Rob Conlon

Sam Allardyce declared HMRC the “most corrupt business” in Britain during the Daily Telegraph‘s investigation into alleged corruption in football.

Reports suggest the England manager is close to being sacked by the FA after the newspaper’s sting.

Allardyce faces allegations of offering advice on how to circumvent FA third-party ownership laws and trying to negotiate a £400,000 deal to address investors in a Far East firm.

The 61-year-old also told undercover reporters: “The most corrupt business in our country would be what?  You’ll be shocked when I tell you this – HMRC.

“They fly out tax demands without any real knowledge whether they should or shouldn’t.

“They just put ‘em out willy-nilly and if you pay them, people s*** themselves and pay them.

“Then they go to their accountant and say, and if you’ve got a s*** accountant, the account s**** himself and says, well you must owe them, you had better pay it.”

In 2013 Allardyce was named in HMRC’s inquiry into £450million tax scam.

England captain Wayne Rooney and golfer Rory McIlroy were also named having invested in a government-backed scheme which offered tax relief to those investing in deprived areas of the country.

There is no suggestion the trio did anything wrong as tax avoidance is not illegal in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph also reports that in the same year Allardyce was caught up in a “£275million tax fraud involving a fake film company”, with the CPS seeking to recover £100million from ringleaders, four of whom were convicted in June.

Allardyce was among a number of high-profile people investing and was not one of the scheme’s architects.

“Most of the punters don’t owe it. In fact most of the punters, actually the taxman owes them money,” he said.

“But because the country’s so skint, they come to government and say we’re skint, government says we’re skint how we gonna get the money. Let’s change the laws and let’s just fly out these demands.

“If you invested in this tax scheme, where they pay the tax back, for investing in new businesses, or in regeneration zones, do you know what I mean, in current poverty areas.

“But HMRC, you have to pay it back even if you don’t owe it.

“The most corrupt, it’s the most corrupt business in the country at the minute, HMRC”.