Former Sky Sports Presenter Faces £281,000 Bill After Losing IR35 Appeal

Dave Clark, a former presenter on Sky Sports was given a £281,000 bill after losing a tribunal over how he was paid when he worked for Sky Sports between 2013 and 2018. The judge ruled Clark should have been paid directly as a Sky employee but instead the pay was passed via his own limited company, Little Piece of Paradise Limited.

Clark, who retired in July last year and is now seriously ill with Parkinson’s disease now faces another battle after falling foul of HMRC’s IR35 rules. The tribunal found there was a mutual obligation between the presenter and Sky for this to be classed a contract of service and that there was a contractual payment of £150,000 per year in return for the services but it appeared Sky had no obligation to provide work on a continuous basis.

Judge Heidi Poon commented: "We are satisfied that no factors existed which were inconsistent with the affirmative conclusion that the contractual arrangements between Sky and Mr Clark would have been a contract of service for the duration of the entire relevant period from 1 August 2012 to 31 July 2018 for the purposes of the IR35 legislation."

Seb Maley, chief executive officer of IR35 specialist Qdos, said “Ultimately, the judge’s view was that Clark was subject to control by Sky, who also paid him whether he worked or not. What’s more, he was restricted from presenting for other companies, which the judge believed painted a picture of employment rather than self-employment. But to reiterate, this certainly isn’t the case across the board.”

Clark is amongst a host of celebrities on HMRC’s radar when it comes to IR35. Ex-footballer and presenter Gary Lineker has found himself in a court battle with HM Revenue & Customs over a potential tax bill of £4.9m, the case remains ongoing.