22 January 2024 , 11:33
575
0
Eamonn Holmes has claimed he was forced to sell a property in Northern Ireland following a dispute with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about tax.
The GB News host has revealed that he's had to sell the home after losing two appeals against HMRC which reportedly cost him "hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees". Tax officials ruled that he was a staff member when working for ITV, rather than a freelancer, but he insists he never received sick pay, holiday pay, or shares in companies.
It was ruled that the presenter needed to pay 10 years of backdated national insurance and tax payments, leaving him with a bill reported to be around £250,000. Eamonn explained that the only way he was able to pay the bill was by selling his home in Belfast.
Eamonn suffers from chronic back pain and mobility issues (Getty Images)
Eamonn has worked in television since 1979 (David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)He told his former UTV co-star Gerry Kelly: “I had a house here until six weeks ago when I was forced to sell it by the Inland Revenue (HMRC). It's something I’m very bitter about because people think you earn lots of money and therefore you have to pay. It’s like they have taken away everything I ever worked for.
“People think it’s only the Eamonn Holmeses of this world that they’re after. But it’s not. The country is broken.” Eamonn's first TV job was at UTV in 1979.
Eamonn Holmes claims Andy Carroll "should have been arrested" in brutal attack
The TV stalwart worked for ITV for almost three decades and presented This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford for 15 years before the duo were replaced by Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond. Last year, Eamonn spoke out about the tax row he faced and described it as “the most stressful experience outside of losing my father”.
Eamonn admitted he believed the stress sparked a severe bout of shingles in 2018 which could have left him blind. He said: “I was like a lamb to the slaughter – it was the most stressful, humiliating experience.
“It was bloody scary to see [the illness]. It looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to my face and smashed me about a bit.”
Eamonn's health woes are ongoing and he currently uses a wheelchair after undergoing spinal surgery following chronic issues with back pain. The father-of-four has been vocal about trying a range of different treatments including physiotherapy, stretching procedures and epidural injections, but he fears he may never regain his full mobility.
He added to Gerry in the interview which will be screened later this month: “I have tried every treatment, but you go, ‘Maybe I’ll never get out of it,’ which is a harsh reality to face.”