The SPL yesterday released a statement concerning the Employee Benefit Trust payment Celtic made in 2005 to Juninho, in response to what sounded like unfounded allegations made earlier this week.
The league noted, “we have seen reports regarding an EBT in relation to a former player of Celtic FC. The SPL has investigated the arrangements and documentation in that case and has determined that there is no evidence of any breach of SPL Rules”.
Many good employers have understood the benefit of assisting individual members of staff during times of crisis or personal hardship. One very practical way of doing this is to lend them money, which happens in businesses up and down the country every day. When the nature of these transactions involve either a company of sufficient size, a lengthy repayment period, or a high value loan, a formal structure is needed to establish the terms of the transaction, not only for the benefit of employer and employee, but also for the tax authorities – who authorise tax-free payments of this kind.
These tax rules were not established to allow wealthy individuals to escape their social duty.
Not long after Rangers first operated an Employee Benefit Trust Celtic were approached and offered consultancy to establish a similar scheme. The promised benefits were huge, vast quantities of cash would no longer go to HMRC and would be freed up to spend on new players.
Celtic were not convinced.
Loans would need to be repaid and if not, contractually binding transactions would need to be documented in accordance with SPL and SFA rules, and this very documentation would make them liable for tax. For Celtic, EBTs could only be used in limited circumstances, would be unable to deliver a significant impact on the business, and would introduce a further layer of professional costs.
“How can these work?” That was the question. How on earth can a club pay millions of pounds into a Trust none of which is contractual? Players, and their agents, like to have things written down. If you write it down and inform the authorities, you’re taxed on it. Celtic were not prepared to enter any written agreement and not declare it to their auditors, HMRC or the football authorities.
What was the cost of this principled stance?
In season 2004-05 former World Cup winner, Juninho, arrived at Celtic from Middlesbrough on a straightforward contract, his only contract with the club, which was correctly registered with the football authorities. He only lasted eight months before agreeing to terminate his deal. Celtic made a payment of around £750k into an EBT the player had from before his time at the club.
Celtic informed HMRC of the details of their EBT transaction with Juninho and were told this was regarded as income, not a loan, and that they would need to pay tax. Celtic then paid tax due on top of the £750k which went to Juninho. It was a pointless and expensive exercise for Celtic, but they dealt with it honestly and openly.
The club’s understandings of EBTs from five years earlier were confirmed, this was not a way to avoid taxation by filtering part of a player’s income away from PAYE. Board members of any other club which understood how to make this work were clearly a lot smarter than our guys. They were also able to buy players and win leagues while our board were hammered daily for their prudent values.
I bet directors at that other club are sounding pretty contrite now, humbled by the emerging news. There will be no self-serving vainglorious rabble rousing.
Far from Celtic being subject to criticism on this matter, scrutiny of their actions will only reveal the stark cost of following the rules when others don’t.
Congratulations to the campaigners who for 23 years sought Justice for the 96. We all watch the game in a safer environment because of the loss endured by the families bereaved at Hillsborough. Yesterday’s report condemns the actions of many: some senior police officers, sections of the media, one or two of who should never work in the industry again, and a former MP, whose actions were truly appalling, and who remains a knight of the realm, but those running the game, those responsible for Health and Safety standards, and various governments have a responsibility to bear.
Dangerous crushing inside and outside football grounds was a fact of life in the 1980s, including at the Janefield St entrance to Celtic Park.
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God Help Libya if this is true.
The Lebanese news organization Tayyar.org is reporting that the murdered American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was raped prior to his killing September 11, 2012.
The Lebanese news report cited the Agence France-Presse (AFP) broke the story when given the information by an unnamed senior member of the Libyan Interior Ministry.
Tayyar.com also reported via Google translation from the original Arabic, Ambassador Stevens:
“…was killed and representation of his body in a manner similar to what happened with Gaddafi, such as murder.”
According to the BBC, when the former Libyan strongman Colonel Moammar Gaddafi was initially captured:
Video: US Ambassador Raped Prior To Murder.”Still images from an analysis of amateur video footage taken in the moments after Col Gaddafi’s capture appear to show him being sodomised with a pole or knife.”
The Washington Times has posted a video clip reportedly originating from the Libyan Free Press confirming the sodomization of Ambassador Stevens prior to his murder.
As translated by The Washington Times, the Libyan reporter stated:
“Libya – USA Ambassador in Bengazi sodomized and killed by his own al-Qaeda puppets.”
The Times also has posted an update stating that as of 3:35 AM EST today:
“The Lebanon report on the murdered U.S. ambassador in Libya, Christopher Stevens, remains unconfirmed by the AFP.”
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
11:55 on 13 September, 2012
‘he had an ebt set up before he got to Celtic, he asked Celtic to use this facility for his severance pay, only a hun would have a problem understanding what Paul67 has clearly explained.’
I don’t understand it.
I’m not a hun.
There’s three parties to a trust: the settlor, the trustees and the beneficiary.
It doesn’t make sense to say that the settlor, ie the party paying the money into the trust, changed half way through.
I suspect we’re being presented with a dumbed down version of what happened.
Thegreenfaerie 11:56 on 13 September, 2012
and sleekit sally and McCall before kick off in an SPL game , As well as Craig Brown Getting the ole “Knuckle rub” on arrival at fir park by the official greeter before kick off of an Aberdeen v Mwell SPL match.
TSD
You’ve gone and hurt my feelings now. I had really wanted to be taken under your wing as well! :-)
I only posted in response to Kitalba’s post concerning the atrocities in the New World. Why are you so infatuated with Canamalar?
If you go back and read my post correctly you will see it is a subject I am reading at the moment. Thank you for the pointers by the way, I may have a wee look the next time I have spare time from trying to impress Canamalar.
Charles “Crazy Mutt” Green: (Lakota dialect: literally means “He’s aff eez nut like a dug wae ra rabies!”).
With a name in his tribe, Lakota: Thikasasowsturd, that literally means “Crazy-like-a-diseased-dog”, this Native Yorkshireman was actually born with the name: Cha-O-Ha Ha Ha meaning in Lakotan, “One who laughs at the Rain”, and he was often called “Lying B*****d” due to his lack of truthfulness. In the Great Hun War of 2012, Crazy Mutt led a combined group of nearly 1,500 Union and vanguard bears in a surprise march against Neil Doncaster’s forces at the Massacre of the Big Hampden Car Park. Doncaster’s force of two soon to be retired security guards, one with sciatica and the other with mild gout, alongside Big Peter the Janny, was nothing more than the name suggests. The Massacre was stopped with the arrival of many Strathclyde police, and despite the various casualties to staff, Doncaster managed to escape out a back door with only mild incontinence dispersed onto his suit trousers. The arrival of police did prevent Crazy Mutt and his forces from reaching Stewart “Mouseman” Regan, who had also been targeted in the march to the Big Hampden Car Park- Regan was later heard to say “I understand why Crazy Mutt wants to butcher me…I don’t think there is anything wrong with organizing a dangerous mob of drunken psychopaths…what it wrong with that?” Doncaster though is thought to be recuperating somewhere in rural Norfolk. Crazy Mutt Green said on the stairs of Hampden: “I will continue to whatever I like to these cretins at Hampden. I will oppose any and all punishments from any footballing body either here in Scotland or elsewhere, for I am the Great Chief of the Hun called Crazy Mutt.” And with that many of his insane tribe howled and hollered like sick dogs with their war paint, dead animals tied their shellsuits in a sea of buckfast bottles and sovvy rings held high in salute to their chav Chieftan.
See…. The self-congratulatory types who slither around in the corridors of power will always say, “Sorry.”, when caught red,white and blue handed. They’re ‘sorry’ alright….sorry they’ve been caught at it. So, they’ll mouth what they believe to be satisfactory platitudes and then snake off to continue, safe in the knowledge they are protected by their fellow reptiles.
These days the whole debased structure makes me feel so fed up.
Aye……say ‘sorry’, ya sorry ********.
As I understand it Juninho’s EBT payment was the remainder(or part thereof) of his contract( a contract that was declared to SFA) . It was just paid into a different account (his EBT account that had been set up at Middlesbrough). Celtic informed HMRC, they said ‘you still have to pay tax as it’s still his contract’. Celtic paid the tax . end of.
Now if someone can help me with my tax demand for health care benefits !
He had a contract with Celtic.
A single contract, without an EBT.
When he LEFT the severance money was paid into his EBT.
The club informed HMRC and tax was paid by the club.
SimplereallyCSC
The SPL have categorically stated there is ‘no case to answer’ after conducting their own investigation
Yet a handful of posters still want ‘clarification’
Hmmm as someone would say
dksglen
11:41 on 13 September, 2012
Paul67,
“Celtic informed HMRC of the details of their EBT transaction with Juninho and were told this was regarded as income”
So were the SFA & SPL informed of this part of the contract, if it indeed was classed as income?
That’s what that other lot are clinging too.
——-
Add to that the PFA/Media.Everyone new.But no one had the balls to take it further.
So what to do?
Celtics action raised the temperature,one might even say the signing served a number of purposes?
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
11:55
That’s quite frankly pathetic, your “only a hun jibe”
Depends what way you read it really, as far as I and quite frankly loads of others see it as payment. (as did hmrc)
This should have been declared, even at a later date to the sfa & spl?
Was it or wasnt it?
Maybe we should outsource the unseen Fenian hand to another group.
How about the unseen Scientology hand?
The unseen Sons of the Desert hand?
The unseen Vestal Virgin hand?
I’d bet they’d believe that stuff as well.
ernie…,
“In season 2004-05 former World Cup winner, Juninho, arrived at Celtic from Middlesbrough on a straightforward contract, his only contract with the club, which was correctly registered with the football authorities. He only lasted eight months before agreeing to terminate his deal. Celtic made a payment of around £750k into an EBT the player had from before his time at the club.”
I cant see whats hard to understand, really
he had an existing ebt set up elsewhere,
the trustees were already in place administering the existing facility
Celtic were requested to pay the severence money into that ebt,
whats hard to understand about that
CharlieAdam’sSister’sPants
11:55 on 13 September, 2012
Canamalar,
I’m not a hun.
_____________________
Don’t know about you being a ‘a hun’.
Don’t really care. Takes all kinds….
I think your chosen user-name gets you off to a bad start & does not reflect well on a CELTIC site.
No Matter. If you feel that you MUST use such a degrading title. I suggest that you at least punctuate it properly.
Hail, Hail.
charlieadam’ssister’spants
12:06 on 13 September, 2012
Thanks for explaining it Canamalar, that was what I thought had happened. But I’m still not a hun.
asonofdan
“*********
irrespective of your allegiances,apostrophe abuse is considered a serious offence by some on here!
Soooo….
‘the weegreenman’ suddenly mutates
into ‘theweegreenfaerie’….
‘As The Clock Strikes Noon….’
So Who’s To Blame..?
Can We Assume…..?
* Darwinian Evolution……………..?
* Mutagenic Effects Of Pollution..?
* Janet & Ian Krankie………………?
C’Mon The HOOPS/EBTs/ Campbell Ogilvie’s Imminent Resignation…
leftclicktic
McCall still calls Wally Smith ‘the boss’, they are all in it together. Sickening.
HH
Ernie and CFC1888, thanks. So the club did nothing wrong, other than end up paying more than originally planned. I knew we were in the clear, but I wasn’t sure how to answer the constant “What about Juninho” questions.
wonkyradar12:10 on 13 September, 2012:
>>>>>>>>>
Reads like a sub-plot in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’.
HH!
As the days pass it’s becoming more and more apparent that TheSingingDefective is actually in the throes of unrequited love re. Canamalar. He doesn’t realise that we can all see what he cannot himself. It’s tragically funny.
It’s like a weird soap opera.
: > )
Right lads,
First off, every payment made to Juninho, even his severance, was a payment made in relation to his footballing activities in terms of the SPL and SFA’s rules. The Gers fans are arguing that these were “loans” not payments. More on that later.
Secondly, Juninho never had a side contract relating to his EBT.
With that in mind…
Celtic paid Juninho for 8 months using a straightforward contract lodged with the SFA and SPL, which detailed he would be paid £40,000 per week. For the first 8 months there is therefore absolutely no controversy.
The 2 year contract would have earned Juninho £4million gross. Celtic paid him £40k a week for approximately 32 weeks, so £1,280,000. So far, so uncontroversial. They then decided to pay him off. They offered, and he accepted, £750,000 or therabouts. So Juninho in total was paid £2,030,000. Celtic then paid tax on the £750,000 at a later date, so for the SPL and SFA’s purposes he was paid approximately £2.4 million. So less than the total envisaged amount payable in respect of his footballing activities when his contract was registered.
Had Celtic paid Juninho £750,000 net of tax in the usual way, ie without funding his trust instead, the SPL and SFA would not have needed to hear about it. They would only need to hear about it if he was paid in respect of any footballing activities over and above what was in his contract of service. Celtic could have paid him in bushels of corn instead of funding his EBT with cash, the SPL and SFA would not have needed to be informed. The point is, Celtic made certain payments to Juninho, all of which were detailed in his contract of service.
Now, the Gers fans are claiming that their own payments to players via EBTs were loans, not payments. Well, firstly, RFC2012 PLC (IA) actually made payments to employee benefits trusts in individual player’s names. The trust then made “loans”, or, as seems to be the unanimous consensus on RTC, non-discretional payments to players on a regular basis. What would really assist in determining the reality of the “loans” and “payments” issue is the existence of side letters guaranteeing that payments would be made by RFC2012 PLC(IA) in certain circumstances (when an appearance was made, when a goal was scored, after 2 years of service etc) and that the trustees would make loans as and when requested within those parameters and without ever seeking repayment. That would be handy. That’s why the side contracts matter, to prove that RFC made “payments” within the meaning of the SPL’s rules, rather than loans.
Celtic agreeing to fund an EBT seems misconceived, and i am glad that this error, and avoidance of social responsibility (albeit a transient and perhaps inadvertent one) was sorted out quickly with HMRC. It need never have been notified to the SPL within the compass of the SPL’s rules.
That’w why there’s no case to answer.
singing detective
My log in is not the weegreenfairie.
HH
Right now there’s a man in my kitchen singing ‘Lullaby of Broadway’ with my wife.
I am not joking.
Asonofdan
A shocking development concerning the ambassador. The poor man’s family.
I dread to think what the American response to all of this will be.
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
12:16 on 13 September, 2012
A trust isn’t like a chugger’s bucket that anyone can throw money in.
That’s not how it works.
As I said, I suspect we’re getting a dumbed down version.
The pathetic recurring whataboutery from the grieving huns re. Junhino is starting to wear annoyingly thin.
Pathetic stupid cretins.
Their house of cards is on fire and all they can think to do is blow hot air in our direction.
Muppet minds.
Thanks goes to Brian Quinn for sorting the EBT issue for Celtic.Pretty sure he advised the dead club that EBTs would come back to haunt them………….
charlieadam’ssister’spants
Nah..no havin’ it.! What’s ⬆ THAT all about? Change it. Or get tae.
Any word on our injuries ?
So….. In a nutshell Paul …
EBTs were not illegal
However HMRC are saying .. Due to your league association rules you knew that EBTs would need to be declared in the contract as no secondary contracts are allowed…
And because you have to have it in writing according to SFA rule you would then be liable to tax deductions .
You choose not to declare the 2nd contract to the SFA as its against rules … To avoid tax deductions .
And you knew it … So you are liable
And ps …
I think the SPL and SFA want to talk to you about the stripping of titles due to your blatant cheating
Love hector
Pps … I cannot believe that your then secretary and now head of the SFA did know the rules .
Ogilvie MUST GO
gerryguk7
12:18
That helps, so termination payment rather than payment for playing football?
NO side letter.
That will do for me.
miki67
They’re going down the toilet, a good, well deserved place for them and they want to drag us down with them. Ol’ Chuck is finger pointing at us to get the huns’ support and thy’re falling for it. It’s tedious and annoying. What happened to Bomber Brown?
HH
ernie…,
so your having problems with the dumbed down version, I’m no.
Paul67 included the problem of cost to arrange the payment into the ebt, how complicated must it be for you to understand
miki67 12:22
I’m with you there. Only in Scotland could this issue somehow become one about Juninho and Celtic and not about the dozens and dozens of cases of R*****rs players with dual contracts.
So a few moronic currants rant on SSB about the ‘janeenyo ebt’, and the SPL duly conduct an investigation jig time?
TSD
theweegreenman is actually married to the lovely blonde lady who is Thegreenfaerie.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I had some issues lately too. gmail went a bit funny and had to reset the password and then my good wife bought me a macbook which had trouble picking up the gmail.
some of the issues were;
the providors are increasing the security requirement on passwords e.g. must have upper and lower case characters and not the same character 3 times in a row
the mac didnt like the double passwork setting (i think that’s what its called) when getting into gmail – so the guy at apple turned it off
I hope this is some help
Brilliant Paul 67
‘contractually binding transactions would need to be documented in accordance with SPL and SFA rules, and this very documentation would make them liable for tax.’
All Rangers had to do was register the side letters with the SFA. The fact that Rangers wilfully withheld this documentation to avoid paying tax equates to cheating.
Kilbowie Celt, it isn’t a start. I just haven’t posted for a good while as I lost my password. Didn’t have any problems then, but no problem, it can easily be changed.