Saturday, February 18, 2006
ISSUE OF UNPAID TAXES
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Paladini Recounts how he saved QPR from winding up order
-TEAMTALKRs in emergency paymentQPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over."We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date."If we hadn't paid the bill by 20 December, they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill."The total bill is for £1.58m and so far we have paid £1m. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Story_Page/0,7760,1801_900459,00.html
QPR MAKE EMERGENCY TAX PAYMENT
Sporting LifeQPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over."We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date."If we hadn't paid the bill by December 20 they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill."The total bill is for £1.58million and so far we have paid £1million. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=nonwire_soccer/05/12/18/manual_192114.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1
Guardian - Dec 19, 2005
GuardianQPR 0 - 1 Coventry ....
The defeat loosened QPR's grip on mid-table security but they can be thankful they are not in the relegation zone this morning. Today was the deadline for payment to the Inland Revenue and, had it not been met last Friday, the club faced administration and a points penalty that would have dropped them to 23rd place....http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,1527,1671188,00.html
The Times December 22, 2005Holloway puzzled - Ian Holloway, the Queens Park Rangers manager, has said that he is “in the dark” about events at the troubled Coca-Cola Championship club. QPR paid £500,000 to the Inland Revenue this week to prevent the club facing a winding-up order and going into administration. “I don’t know what is happening,” Holloway said. The Times
Sporting Life QPR manager Ian Holloway has hinted he will not be allowed to sign the players he wants next month.Holloway is keen to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window - but indicated his hands might be tied by the club's off-the-field difficulties.Earlier this week, Rangers made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration."It's too early to say anything about whether I can get any players in, but usually I would ask myself as manager," Holloway said. Sometimes you don't get the control you need as a football manager." Sporting Life
Tax Bill Update from QPR1st
-Recent tax bill updatehttp://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=49
DECEMBER 2005
Gianni Paladini, Marc Devlin & Bill Power on Unpaid Payments
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CURRENT QPR CHAIRMAN, GIANNI PALADINI
December 6, 2005
Where do you see QPR in three years time?First of all we need to clear our debts; we only took over from the October 1 and we found out we owed more than we originally thought. You need solid foundations, I'd love us to go up this year or next year, but we have to be realistic and budget accordingly.When we first took over there was a big outstanding tax bill and Caliendo and I had to go down to Brighton to stop us going into Liquidation. We had to give our personal guarantee that the bill would be paid.When we found out you can imagine our panic. The first thing you have to do as a company is pay the tax man as they can wind you up. .......Is it true we are behind with our payments?We are paying people. In October we paid out £1.2 million. When we took over we found that many of our suppliers hadn't been paid since May. There is a backlog but we are putting a new structure in place. Instead of writing cheques out every day of the week, we will pay our suppliers on the 30th of every month. Therefore they know when they will get paid and we can also budget better.. http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~751350,00.html
FORMER QPR CEO, MARC DEVLIN
December 12, 2005Further Response From Mark Devlin
I watched and listened with interest to the recent interview with the current Chairman. To say that I am surprised at some of what I heard would be an understatement ! I really don’t have any wish to discuss these matters publicly as it cannot do the Club any good. In addition, I would rather channel my energies into assisting Swindon Town through their current situation. However, I do feel that I need to clarify the situation as I understood it.When I re-joined Rangers in August 2004, I was informed that the Club had an indebtedness to certain Government Agencies of a little over £2m. Clearly this needed to be dealt with and the Chief Financial Officer was tasked by the Board to meet with the relevant people to agree a payment schedule which would keep both parties happy. This he duly did. We were able to keep to the plan with the help of the funds received from the purchase of shares by both Barnaby and Wanlock until around December 2004 when the CFO informed the Board and myself that the cash flow was strained and that he would have difficulty making future payments on time. It was clear that we needed an injection of funds and this was duly found although not as quickly as we would of wished.This was the situation which all the Board, including the current Chairman, were faced with when looking to set the current Season Ticket prices. My understanding was that we were meeting our ongoing PAYE and VAT commitments. At no point were members of the Board or myself informed that we were seriously behind with payments to the Revenue or the Customs and Excise, or that a notice to serve a winding up order had been issued. I have no reason to believe that any such correspondence was sent to the Club.The only potential serving up order related to an outstanding loan to a previous Director. This situation was discussed in full at Board level and a solution was found but this did place extra strain on the cash flow. Full financial reports and cash flows were provided at every Board meeting by the CFO and the financial situation was always discussed. To the best of my knowledge, debts were not ‘hidden’ by anyone whatsoever. Furthermore, it should be remembered that we, as a business, had a duty to inform the offices of PAYE and VAT of how much tax we were due to pay on a monthly and quarterly basis respectively. This process would have of been carried out by the CFO. Indeed, the thought of the Inland Revenue waiting until August or September for £2m worth of outstanding monies due in May, is just not plausible.Not too long ago, Crown debts (Inland Revenue/PAYE/VAT), through a change in the law, lost their ‘preferential creditor’ status and because of that the Officers are sharper than ever in trying to obtain any monies owed to them, particularly from Football Clubs. The first I heard that the Inland Revenue were threatening the Club, was when I spoke to a Director following September’s Board meeting, a month or so after I left QPR. I understand that was for an amount a little in excess of £1m. I am sure that other Directors of that time will be able to confirm this situation. - Mark Devlin http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/
FORMER QPR CHAIRMAN, BILL POWER December 12, 2005...I have not listened to or read what the latest argument is about, but from what I have heard it seems to me that 2 very passionate followers of the Rs are being both misunderstood and misquoted, in fact I made this point only a day ago on the offish site following a call, I immediately defended myself.Every innocent remark made by whoever is disected to death.God forbid anyone should speak metaphorically.Now its tax evasion.This is about the only thing a company [yes i know we are QPR not a co'] of our size cannot hide. The taxmen [C&E or Income] doesn't send in an invoice saying we think you probably owe us £6 but we will wait until the end of the financial year to be sure.In laymans terms we the club inform whichever tax dept each financial month of what we we have withheld from our players and salaried staff [in the case of income tax well in excess of 100k per month] or quarterly what we have received in excess of what we have paid in VAT [to C&E and for instance VAT from season ticket sales up front and payable long before the club has received the money from the credit card companies].This is handled by the Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, he is the one who informs both tax depts of outstanding payments that we [QPR] need to make each month or qtr. There is no guess work and criminal charges could and should be made against anyone at the club with-holding any such information [and for the record i am not pointing a finger at the very able man I have just said is reporting these figures as I know he has and would have done].Apparently, or alledgedly, or whatever is needed to say a comment is not chiseled in stone, Gianni passed a remark about payments not coming to light in his knowledge and I'm told he said tax or whatever. I'm certain it was frustration at the size of our debts and him perhaps not understanding the outstanding commitment, but its not for me to guess.What I know. as frustrating as that is, is the debt of the club is no more or less than we knew it to be for the last 15 months and quite frankly I am very relieved not to have that overwhelming pressure on me to try and resolve.Can we all stop 'casting the first stone'?None of us are perfect, lots of things are said and done in haste and repented at leisure.What we all know is that we are Hoops. ...Come on you Rs. ..http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=141640&t=42284
QPR 1st
Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 In attendance:QPR Holdings Ltd Reps: Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officer
QPR 1st Meeting witH Paladini
f) Paye and Vat
CP confirmed that Paye was being paid each month shortly after the due date of the 19th. This means the current year (2005/6) is to all intents and purposes is up to date and no new arrears are being created. There were some unspecified arrears from previous years that are reducing and being repaid monthly. Despite being asked the direct question CP was not willing to divulge the exact amount of these arrears.
It was confirmed that Vat was being paid on time and the club was not currently being subjected to any Vat surcharges as a result of late payments. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.docS
Paladini Recounts how he saved QPR from winding up order
-TEAMTALKRs in emergency paymentQPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over."We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date."If we hadn't paid the bill by 20 December, they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill."The total bill is for £1.58m and so far we have paid £1m. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Story_Page/0,7760,1801_900459,00.html
QPR MAKE EMERGENCY TAX PAYMENT
Sporting LifeQPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over."We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date."If we hadn't paid the bill by December 20 they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill."The total bill is for £1.58million and so far we have paid £1million. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=nonwire_soccer/05/12/18/manual_192114.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1
Guardian - Dec 19, 2005
GuardianQPR 0 - 1 Coventry ....
The defeat loosened QPR's grip on mid-table security but they can be thankful they are not in the relegation zone this morning. Today was the deadline for payment to the Inland Revenue and, had it not been met last Friday, the club faced administration and a points penalty that would have dropped them to 23rd place....http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,1527,1671188,00.html
The Times December 22, 2005Holloway puzzled - Ian Holloway, the Queens Park Rangers manager, has said that he is “in the dark” about events at the troubled Coca-Cola Championship club. QPR paid £500,000 to the Inland Revenue this week to prevent the club facing a winding-up order and going into administration. “I don’t know what is happening,” Holloway said. The Times
Sporting Life QPR manager Ian Holloway has hinted he will not be allowed to sign the players he wants next month.Holloway is keen to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window - but indicated his hands might be tied by the club's off-the-field difficulties.Earlier this week, Rangers made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration."It's too early to say anything about whether I can get any players in, but usually I would ask myself as manager," Holloway said. Sometimes you don't get the control you need as a football manager." Sporting Life
Tax Bill Update from QPR1st
-Recent tax bill updatehttp://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=49
DECEMBER 2005
Gianni Paladini, Marc Devlin & Bill Power on Unpaid Payments
-
CURRENT QPR CHAIRMAN, GIANNI PALADINI
December 6, 2005
Where do you see QPR in three years time?First of all we need to clear our debts; we only took over from the October 1 and we found out we owed more than we originally thought. You need solid foundations, I'd love us to go up this year or next year, but we have to be realistic and budget accordingly.When we first took over there was a big outstanding tax bill and Caliendo and I had to go down to Brighton to stop us going into Liquidation. We had to give our personal guarantee that the bill would be paid.When we found out you can imagine our panic. The first thing you have to do as a company is pay the tax man as they can wind you up. .......Is it true we are behind with our payments?We are paying people. In October we paid out £1.2 million. When we took over we found that many of our suppliers hadn't been paid since May. There is a backlog but we are putting a new structure in place. Instead of writing cheques out every day of the week, we will pay our suppliers on the 30th of every month. Therefore they know when they will get paid and we can also budget better.. http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~751350,00.html
FORMER QPR CEO, MARC DEVLIN
December 12, 2005Further Response From Mark Devlin
I watched and listened with interest to the recent interview with the current Chairman. To say that I am surprised at some of what I heard would be an understatement ! I really don’t have any wish to discuss these matters publicly as it cannot do the Club any good. In addition, I would rather channel my energies into assisting Swindon Town through their current situation. However, I do feel that I need to clarify the situation as I understood it.When I re-joined Rangers in August 2004, I was informed that the Club had an indebtedness to certain Government Agencies of a little over £2m. Clearly this needed to be dealt with and the Chief Financial Officer was tasked by the Board to meet with the relevant people to agree a payment schedule which would keep both parties happy. This he duly did. We were able to keep to the plan with the help of the funds received from the purchase of shares by both Barnaby and Wanlock until around December 2004 when the CFO informed the Board and myself that the cash flow was strained and that he would have difficulty making future payments on time. It was clear that we needed an injection of funds and this was duly found although not as quickly as we would of wished.This was the situation which all the Board, including the current Chairman, were faced with when looking to set the current Season Ticket prices. My understanding was that we were meeting our ongoing PAYE and VAT commitments. At no point were members of the Board or myself informed that we were seriously behind with payments to the Revenue or the Customs and Excise, or that a notice to serve a winding up order had been issued. I have no reason to believe that any such correspondence was sent to the Club.The only potential serving up order related to an outstanding loan to a previous Director. This situation was discussed in full at Board level and a solution was found but this did place extra strain on the cash flow. Full financial reports and cash flows were provided at every Board meeting by the CFO and the financial situation was always discussed. To the best of my knowledge, debts were not ‘hidden’ by anyone whatsoever. Furthermore, it should be remembered that we, as a business, had a duty to inform the offices of PAYE and VAT of how much tax we were due to pay on a monthly and quarterly basis respectively. This process would have of been carried out by the CFO. Indeed, the thought of the Inland Revenue waiting until August or September for £2m worth of outstanding monies due in May, is just not plausible.Not too long ago, Crown debts (Inland Revenue/PAYE/VAT), through a change in the law, lost their ‘preferential creditor’ status and because of that the Officers are sharper than ever in trying to obtain any monies owed to them, particularly from Football Clubs. The first I heard that the Inland Revenue were threatening the Club, was when I spoke to a Director following September’s Board meeting, a month or so after I left QPR. I understand that was for an amount a little in excess of £1m. I am sure that other Directors of that time will be able to confirm this situation. - Mark Devlin http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/
FORMER QPR CHAIRMAN, BILL POWER December 12, 2005...I have not listened to or read what the latest argument is about, but from what I have heard it seems to me that 2 very passionate followers of the Rs are being both misunderstood and misquoted, in fact I made this point only a day ago on the offish site following a call, I immediately defended myself.Every innocent remark made by whoever is disected to death.God forbid anyone should speak metaphorically.Now its tax evasion.This is about the only thing a company [yes i know we are QPR not a co'] of our size cannot hide. The taxmen [C&E or Income] doesn't send in an invoice saying we think you probably owe us £6 but we will wait until the end of the financial year to be sure.In laymans terms we the club inform whichever tax dept each financial month of what we we have withheld from our players and salaried staff [in the case of income tax well in excess of 100k per month] or quarterly what we have received in excess of what we have paid in VAT [to C&E and for instance VAT from season ticket sales up front and payable long before the club has received the money from the credit card companies].This is handled by the Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, he is the one who informs both tax depts of outstanding payments that we [QPR] need to make each month or qtr. There is no guess work and criminal charges could and should be made against anyone at the club with-holding any such information [and for the record i am not pointing a finger at the very able man I have just said is reporting these figures as I know he has and would have done].Apparently, or alledgedly, or whatever is needed to say a comment is not chiseled in stone, Gianni passed a remark about payments not coming to light in his knowledge and I'm told he said tax or whatever. I'm certain it was frustration at the size of our debts and him perhaps not understanding the outstanding commitment, but its not for me to guess.What I know. as frustrating as that is, is the debt of the club is no more or less than we knew it to be for the last 15 months and quite frankly I am very relieved not to have that overwhelming pressure on me to try and resolve.Can we all stop 'casting the first stone'?None of us are perfect, lots of things are said and done in haste and repented at leisure.What we all know is that we are Hoops. ...Come on you Rs. ..http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=141640&t=42284
QPR 1st
Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 In attendance:QPR Holdings Ltd Reps: Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officer
QPR 1st Meeting witH Paladini
f) Paye and Vat
CP confirmed that Paye was being paid each month shortly after the due date of the 19th. This means the current year (2005/6) is to all intents and purposes is up to date and no new arrears are being created. There were some unspecified arrears from previous years that are reducing and being repaid monthly. Despite being asked the direct question CP was not willing to divulge the exact amount of these arrears.
It was confirmed that Vat was being paid on time and the club was not currently being subjected to any Vat surcharges as a result of late payments. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.docS
# posted by Administrator @ 3:13 AM 
