Football’s colossal unpaid taxes revealed as England legend is declared bankrupt

A former England international winger has been declared bankrupt after amassing more than £1.5 million in debt through his now-liquidated media company.

Liverpool legend John Barnes has fought off four bankruptcy petitions in the last 15 years but was hit with a bankruptcy order in the High Court of Justice last week.

“Liquidators’ reports show he owed HMRC £776,878 in unpaid VAT, National Insurance, and PAYE, alongside £461,849 to unsecured creditors and a £226,000 directors loan,” reports The Independent.

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Why has John Barnes been declared bankrupt?

John Barnes (R) with Paul Gascoigne at World Cup Italia 90. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Barnes reportedly paid a personal tax bill of £238,000 to see off a bankruptcy petition in 2023 but the debts owed by his business have caused a series of problems, culminating in the finalised bankruptcy order.

According to an insolvency specialist and partner at law firm DMH Stallard, Barnes has been involved in legal proceedings for some time.

Barnes has been involved in media work since retiring from football (Image credit: Getty Images)

“John Barnes’s bankruptcy comes just over a year after he signed a disqualification undertaking, disqualifying him from acting as a director for three and a half years,” says Oliver Jackson.

“The difficulties faced by Barnes all stem from his company, John Barnes Media Limited, which went into liquidation in March 2023 owing over £1.5 million. That, in turn, followed HMRC’s rejection of a ‘time to pay’ proposal from Barnes.”

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Bankruptcy is not uncommon among former professional footballers, with the likes of Paul Gascoigne, David James, George Best, Wes Brown and Lee Hendrie on a very long list.

Barnes told a business podcast that he was ‘burned’ because he trusted people he shouldn’t have trusted and has been in conversation with HRMC, the United Kingdom’s tax, payments and customs authority, since 2017.

John Barnes playing for Watford in 1982 (Image credit: Alamy)

“The disqualification, now coupled with his bankruptcy, underlines how HMRC are clamping down on directors and individuals who seek to avoid paying tax,” Jackson adds.

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“Over the last five years HMRC has collected £384 million in unpaid taxes from footballers, their clubs and agents, including £67.5 million in 2023.”

Barnes, who is ranked at No.14 in FourFourTwo‘s list of the best Premier League wingers of all time, represented England with distinction between 1983 and 1995, racking up 79 senior international caps.

He played 314 top-flight matches for Liverpool over the course of a decade after soaring to stardom as a Watford player in the 1980s. He played briefly for Newcastle United and Charlton Athletic at the end of his playing career.

Now 61, Barnes has had two abortive stints in management with Celtic in 1999 and then Jamaica and Tranmere Rovers many years later, but has primarily focused on work in the football broadcast media since retiring as a player.

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