Let’s see if we can remove some of the delusions surrounding this and burst some of the myths. The truth is readily available if you really want to know it.
EBTs are perfectly legal when they are properly used. The way that they were used can be divided 3 ways in terms of how they were utilised by Rangers.
1. The correct way. A discretionary, non contractual payment. This may have been how some of the Rangers EBTs were utilised, e.g. Sir Minty creamed off £6M to himself.
2. The pay off EBT. Used to buy out a players contract. Deemed by HMRC to be liable for tax. There is no side letter or second contract because it’s used to terminate the contract. This is the type of EBT set up for Billy Dodds and Junhino.
Celtic, on the advice of HMRC, subsequently paid the tax which is why they don’t have a case to answer. Junhino wasn’t paid any more than was stipulated in the original contract submitted to the authorities. Again, Move along, nothing to see there.
3. The contractual EBT. Players had side letters, aka second contracts, promising them EBT payments as part of their football duties. This misuse of the scheme is not only tax evasion but breaks every football rule on registering players. The consequence of fielding improperly registered players is the automatic awarding of the match 3-0 to the opposition. Note that this is a consequence, not a punishment.
In case the use of the names Celtic and Rangers is fogging the issue for you, let’s compare two Scottish teams in a parallel universe:
Perth City and Perth United are deadly rivals, both have similar sized crowds and sponsorship deals, etc. Perth United and Perth City are both keen to sign Joe Smith, Perth City offer 10K a week because anything more would break their budget. He signs for Perth United and the player is registered as a United player on a salary of £8K a week.
It later transpires that Joe Smith had an EBT that paid him £3K a week. Perth United can only afford this because they don’t have to pay tax, employers NI etc on the additional income.
Now, that’s unfair to all the other teams in any competition that Perth Utd are entered into.
Not paying tax is also unfair on all the Government departments who have had their budgets cut, and by extension unfair on all the users of those services: NHS patients, Frontline soldiers, social services. I’ve even heard that some police departments have suffered
You’re correct that the transfer embargo was invented specifically to deal with you. You do realise that the alternative to that was a total ban. You should be grateful.
If Minty and Cardigan had imposed their own transfer ban 5 years ago you could have almost wiped out the tax you owed at that time. You’d still be the same club in the wonderfully atmospheric SPL instead of the zombie tribute band currently trading in the dungeons.
It’s really shameful to see a once proud Glasgow Club being stripped to the bones and being passed from one vulture to another. The very people who should be doing something are spending too much energy hoping that other teams fail. The obvious glee at every potential piece of bad news is as undignified as the way you allowed your club to die.