Luke Littler fans slam 'terrible' HMRC post about darts star losing £76k
Fans of darts wonderkid Luke Littler have slammed HMRC over their ruthless social media post about the 16-year-old's tax bill.
Littler enjoyed a stunning run at this year's PDC World Championships, going all the way to the final in what was his debut at Ally Pally. 'The Nuke' knocked out world champions Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross en route to a stunning showdown for the top prize of £500,000.
Sadly, he came up just short in the final, with Luke Humphries producing a brilliant comeback to win 7-4 and lift the Sid Waddell Trophy. Littler still picked up £200,000 in prize money as the runner-up, but it was then revealed he has been hit with a huge tax bill.
It is understood he will lose 45 percent of his winnings due to taxes and related deductions. HMRC's press office appeared to confirm that the large bill is on the way by quote-tweeting one of the reports.
Their press office wrote: "Big congrats to Luke on his fantastic run to the final. We can confirm the existence of income tax." But the tweet immediately drew a large backlash from Littler fans.
Warning as millions on Universal Credit could miss out on hundreds of pounds
One replied: "Sarcasm isn’t needed from the HMRC, thanks. It’s a terrible look for you." Another added: "Quite an unpleasant, condescending response from HMRC, I feel - even though it may be technically accurate."
A third wrote: "Nothing funny about this Tweet. Inappropriate." A fourth replied: "Such a poor post this is." According to an expert at investment platform Saxo, around £76,203 of Littler's £200,000 prize money will go to the tax man. Add in £7,330 in National Insurance and his total take home cheque drops to just under £117,000.
HMRC have caused a stir with this post on social media"Everybody needs to pay tax, no matter their age, and under 18s have the same personal allowance as adults," said Andrew Mangion, head of tax product at Saxo. "Normally children don’t work or if they do, their pay is generally under the tax free allowance.
"In this case, it's rare for a teenager to come into so much money in one lump sum and we would advise him to take professional financial advice on how to best act on this."
Littler is set to continue to earn big paydays, having soared 133 places to take a spot inside the top 32 of the world rankings. That will guarantee him a tour card for this year, while he has also been included in the Premier League of Darts.
That guarantees him a payday of at least £60,000, with the winner of the 17-night competition handed £275,000, on top of the weekly prizes the players will be able to win.
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