ian1964 10,761 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 HEARTS have seven days to find £100,000 or face going bust. The stricken club last night plunged into a new crisis over an unpaid PAYE bill, with boss Gary Locke in limbo. They now have a week to settle or face the repect of a winding-up order. Club chiefs insist they are scrambling to find the funds and that administration isnâ??t inevitable. But failure to cough up would spark fresh fears for their future with this monthâ??s wages due in under a fortnight. The hope is season ticket and fresh commercial income will help stave off the latest threat but itâ??s a race against time. The worry is, if they donâ??t succeed, a domino effect could lead to the doomsday scenario. Itâ??s thrown Lockeâ??s plans to overhaul his squad for the new season into disarray. Moves for Kris Boyd, David Goodwillie and David Wotherspoon have been put on hold until this latest mess is sorted. Last year Hearts fans helped raise more than £1million after the club was served with an HMRC winding-up order amid the backdrop of a £25m debt. Vladimir Romanov has not put in a penny for two years, with Heartsâ?? Scots hierarchy left to pick up the pieces. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/feeds/smartphone/scotland/4954045/Jambos-in-crisis-Hearts-face-tax-bill-hell.html#ixzz2VEFnixcR 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Heard it before. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 919 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 And they signed Wilson and being linked with others. Not sure how this works. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juancornetto 1 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 That would be a terrible shame. *innocent face* 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthter 542 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Strange...I can't find ANY mention of this in today's DR..... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 By MOIRA GORDON Published on 05/06/2013 00:05 HEARTS say they require an immediate upturn in season ticket sales if they are to make it through the latest cash crisis unharmed. The Tynecastle club have again incurred the ire of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs due to an outstanding bill of £100,000. The PAYE settlement had been due on Monday and the club now have a week to raise the necessary finance or be served with a winding up order. It is not the first time the club has been threatened with such action and it was only through fan donations and a successful share issue that they were able to pay off a £450,000 tax bill at the end of last year. They also had to draw up a repayment plan with the tax man regarding another £1.5 million bill. This latest delay will test the patience of HMRC but the club believe that a solution can be found. “We are in dialogue with HMRC and expect to make the payment in the very near future,” said a club spokesman. But the delay has raised further concerns about the ongoing viability of the Gorgie outfit. Hearts are £25m in debt, with £15m owed to Ukio Bankas, who have already entered administration, and a further £10m due to parent company UBIG, who are on the brink of insolvency. With no cash assistance coming from Lithuania, they now need to find the money to pay HMRC and still ensure there is enough left in the pot to cover staff wages, which are due in less than a fortnight. And a club insider stressed that, unless season tickets sales are boosted, that might prove difficult. If Hearts were unable to meet those costs they could face further sanctions from the Scottish Premier League, which could result in another transfer embargo or even a points deduction going into the new league campaign. The club were forced to operate within tight transfer restrictions for the majority of last season as a punishment for the repeated late payment of wages to players and coaching staff. That ban was lifted at the end of the season but members of the SPL board are monitoring the current situation closely. However, while some club insiders insist Hearts are moving closer to the point where they can operate self-sufficiently, there are concerns about the immediate cash-flow situation. Admitting that they have been forced to operate on a hand-to-mouth basis since former owner Vladimir Romanov stopped ploughing money into the club two years ago, they say that they are counting the cost of the sizeable May wage bill, which included all the players’ bonuses and appearance fees, and the increased PAYE bill as a consequence. It is hoped that season-ticket sales will eventually bolster the coffers, but with no match-day income to offset outgoings, the club hierarchy are having a hard time juggling finances. “Things will get better going forward because we have now lost some of the higher earners from the wage bill but the uncertainty over matters in Lithuania has hit us hard,” admitted a club source, who confirmed that the contracts of most of the outgoing players have now expired. “Season-ticket sales are down on this time last year, meaning we will have to have another look at the budget for next season. I am sure we can raise the money due to HMRC within the necessary deadline and I would hope we can pay all the wages on the 16th but the honest truth is that without the fans buying more season tickets, I don’t think anyone at the club can guarantee that.” Season-ticket sales have slumped by almost a third on last summer’s tally, leaving the club struggling to balance the books. But, with the taxman breathing down Hearts’ neck, outraged fans have demanded to know where the money has gone from tickets which have already been sold. Some of it has already been swallowed up by last season’s deficit. While the board had warned of a projected £1.5m deficit, much of that was addressed by the share issue which raised £1.1m. But, the loss of Rangers from the SPL came after the budget had already been drawn up, resulting in a shortfall of around £300,000, which was compounded by the team’s subsequent lowly league placing. Having budgeted for a sixth-place finish, ending up in tenth left them approximately another £300,000 shy of pre-season calculations. “Even towards the end of the season, attendances were higher than expected but there were discounted admission prices for several of those matches,” added the insider. “The fans have been brilliant and I can understand how the uncertainty has been unsettling but without more season-ticket sales now we have literally no money coming in.” Season-ticket sales will help over the course of the campaign but it may not be the quick fix needed unless they are bought outright. A problem for the club is that many fans have subscribed to either the four-month or ten-month repayment plan with many still to pay their first instalment and several of those monthly payments as low as £30. http://www.scotsman.com/news/hearts-in-new-cash-crisis-as-100k-tax-bill-missed-1-2953713 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 THE SPL could block Danny Wilson’s switch to Hearts despite the club trying to play down fears over an unpaid tax bill. The cash-strapped capital outfit owe HMRC £100,000 in PAYE and have seven days to find the funds or face a winding-up order. Despite the outstanding bill, the Tynecastle club still unveiled defender Wilson last week after he signed a three-year contract. However, as the transfer window hasn’t officially opened, Wilson’s documents haven’t yet been lodged with the SPL and SFA. The earliest the Jambos can do that is June 10 and while they haven’t broken any rules, the SPL can block signings if they feel a club has acted improperly. An SPL source said: “We are keeping an eye on the situation closely. “It isn’t the first time there’s been such action taken by HMRC but previously, and entirely without help from Lithuania, Hearts managed to deal with the issue. Our rules allow us to investigate if we feel there’s been an unfair trading of players. Whether that fits into this category, I don’t know.” SPL rivals hit out at Jambos last year when they beat clubs to signings while their players weren’t receiving their wages on time. After Hearts signed St Mirren target Craig Beattie in February 2012, Buddies boss Danny Lennon said: “It is a wee bit frustrating that Hearts can pay three or four times what we are paying yet they can’t pay their players’ wages. It doesn’t seem fair.” Wilson was paraded last week after leaving Liverpool and the 21-year-old admitted he sought assurances from the Hearts hierarchy over the club’s financial future before penning a deal. Just over a week later it has, however, emerged there are fresh concerns the club could enter administration over the unpaid tax bill. But a spokesman for the Gorgie men said: “We are in dialogue with HMRC and expect to make payment in the very near future.” Hearts were only able to stave off a separate winding up order launched by the taxman last December over a £450,000 tax bill thanks to the generosity of their fans. Gorgie bosses were also forced to agree a repayment plan for a separate tax bill of more than £1.5million. The picture is not helped by issues surrounding the financial state of the Jambos’ owners in Lithuania, who are owed £25m by the club. Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas was already aware of this latest tax bill crisis on Saturday when he sent out a season-ticket appeal to fans. In that he said: “We aim to resolve all the financial issues before the campaign kicks off in August.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/spl-investigating-hearts-move-danny-1932465 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,741 Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Hearts are about to go bust with no assets. When will the SPL/SFA realise this and what are they going to do ? SPL3 was the precedent set last summer. We'll see you again Hertz - SOMETIME !!!! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 And they signed Wilson and being linked with others. Not sure how this works. I don't get it at all. They're in for better players than we are. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Hearts to miss tax bill deadline BBC Scotland has learned that Hearts are unlikely to pay a £100,000 tax bill by the Tuesday deadline of 17:00 BST. Failure to do so will lead to HM Revenue & Customs issuing the club with a winding up order. However, Hearts remain hopeful of settling the bill for PAYE and avoiding any sanctions from the Scottish Premier League. There will be a further deadline of seven days from the notice of the winding up order being made public. Hearts face uncertainty with a debt of £25m - £10m of which is due to their parent company, UBIG, which is claiming insolvency, and £15m to Ukio Bankas, which has been officially declared bankrupt. The Edinburgh club met a a £450,000 tax bill in December, thanks largely to the generosity of fans. And they have negotiated a repayment plan for a separate tax bill of more than £1.5m following a dispute over loan deals for players, the first instalment of which has been paid. The Edinburgh club avoided a potential points deduction when the SPL ruled last month that it was not satisfied UBIG had suffered an "insolvency event" during the season just gone. However, if any club defaults on tax then a player registration embargo is applied until such time as the matter is resolved. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22853304 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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