This Morning’s Eamonn Holmes takes HMRC to court over £250,000 tax bill
Eamonn Holmes has been hit by a huge bill from the taxman, who argues that TV presenters are employees and so should pay income tax and national insurance
Eamonn Holmes is taking HMRC to court over a £250,000 tax bill.
The This Morning presenter, 60, was hit with the bill back in February after losing a case against the taxman over how he is paid.
At the time he claimed he was a freelancer, and received payments from ITV through his limited company, called Red, White and Green, which reduces his tax bill.
But the taxman argues that TV presenters are employees and so should pay income tax and national insurance.
This means they must pay up to 45 per cent tax and not 18 per cent corporation tax.
Eamonn has now filed to take HM Revenue and Customs to court over the bill, according to The Sun.
He has said he was a test case and that others such as Ant and Dec may be targeted if he lost
The TV host said: “‘I was in a court in central London for a week in June.
“I’ve been freelance for 28 years and that’s been okay. Now they’ve said it’s not okay.
“They have reinvented the rules in the past couple of years.
“There is nobody more freelance than me, but they are trying to prove our jobs are regular and guaranteed.
“They could go at any moment.”
A spokesperson for Eamonn said he “has always considered himself a self-employed freelancer and has never knowingly avoided paying taxes”.
Mirror Online has contacted Eamonn’s reps for comment.
Eamonn is the latest star to be hit by HMRC’s crackdown on the use of personal service companies.
Ex-regional TV presenter Christa Ackroyd was hit with a huge tax bill in 2018.
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