Loose Women star faces in court battle over historic £124k tax bill

12 October 2023 , 06:34

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Loose Women's Kaye Adams is facing a second battle with HMRC (Image: ITV)

Loose Women star Kaye Adams is in a second court battle with HMRC over the repayment of £124,000. The presenter previously won her original dispute in 2019, but her case reheard two years later with an Upper Tribunal court siding with her.

However, following an appeal, a Court of Appeal judge ordered another hearing in a lower tribunal, according to MailOnline. HMRC claims the 60-year old owes £81,150.60 in income tax and £43,290.98 in National Insurance contributions dating back to her time at BBC Radio Scotland where she presented The Kaye Adams Programme from 2013 to 2017.

During that period Kaye was employed as a freelancer via her own company, Atholl House Productions Ltd. When the case first came to light, it was reported that emphasis was placed on Adams being a freelancer for 20 years, as she has worked for other organisations as well as the BBC - including ITV.

The tribunal must now consider whether a hypothetical contract regarding her work would be treated as employment or self-employment, rather than the real contract. The case was heard at Taylor House in central London by Judge Tony Beare on Tuesday.

It's reported that Adam Tolley, KC, for HMRC told the court that following a HMRC review in 2008, the BBC began to seek freelance presenters to work over lengthy periods through personal services companies, in order to allegedly reduce the tax risk for the broadcaster.

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HMRC believes Kaye owes a staggering £81,150.60 in income tax and £43,290.98 in National Insurance (ITV)

Jeff Zycinski, Head of Radio at BBC Scotland at the time responded, declaring that he "wasn’t aware" of such a policy as he wasn’t involved in contractual discussions. He added, however, that rules at the BBC were "rolled out in quite a haphazard fashion".

Former Strictly contestant Adams was reportedly paid £155,000 a year for the job on the condition that she hosted 160 shows in that time. Tolley added that Kaye would arrive for work at the Beeb at 7am for a briefing and remain there until 1pm following a debriefing - as well as carrying out preparatory work for her evening shows.

However, Zycinski argued: "Presenters realise they have a short shelf life so they’ll do as much work as they can when they are young and fit. It’s not unheard of for people in this industry to work much more than what you and me would describe as office hours."

Zycinski added that he wanted Kaye to continue working at the BBC all year round during that time, but realised that was unaffordable resulting in her salary being capped at £155,000. He accepted, however, that Loose Women "would now come first" now that she was "back in favour" there.

According to MailOnline, Zycinski said BBC contracts could be flexible depending on its relationship with its talent. "The thing about contracts in the BBC was the contracts were there in the background and what was more important was the personal relationship with the talent," he said.

"The BBC knows it’s got to have something written down in case of trouble but there’s no point trying to hold talent to the letter of the contract if that’s going to make them unhappy. There’s the contract and then there’s the reality of the relationship with the on air talent."

The hearing is set to continue. The Mirror has invited a representative for Kaye to comment.

Alan Johnson