Latest IR35 Tribunal: Bryan Robson Ltd v HMRC

Bryan Robson’s appeal against the HMRC ruling on his owed tax from being in business on his own account has been a qualified success at First Tier Tribunal level.

The c.130 page Tax Chamber findings issued by tribunal judge Tony Beare were largely in favour of the famous footballer and manager covering tax periods between tax years ending 5^th April 2016, and y/e 5^th April 2021. The judgement was issued on 20^th January this year. This case has covered a 10 year period and may still have further to run if HMRC choose to appeal to the Upper tribunal (and the whole case could go even further of course).

The findings have been covered elsewhere (e.g. https://www.freelanceinformer.com/news/ir35-what-freelancers-can-learn-from-bryan-robsons-tax-appeal-case-against-hmrc/ ) with comment.

Mr. Robson did well in the earlier tax years because the agreement was directly with him rather than an intermediary (his limited company), and therefore outside the scope of ‘IR35’.

However, latterly, the more recent form of agreement was with his limited company and therefore the assessment of whether there was an implied employment relationship was required. Here Mr. Robson faired less well. His situation was complicated by the point raised that his fees included some element of recognition for his licensed image rights to Manchester United FC. The judge has required the parties to agree the quantum of the fees due to these rights and outstanding NICs need to be paid on the remainder.

The findings are laid out in painstaking detail relate to the previous case law that has set precedent in some detail and the judge has laid his ‘working out’ down, which is useful to help with interpretation.

For those interested in the detail, the findings are at  https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2025/TC09408.html

For members, please note that as part of your annual membership, you are covered by tax investigation insurance should the need arise and there is a route to Qdos for assessing your proposed outside IR35 contract forms should you wish to avail yourselves.