21/05/2015
NEWS STORY
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone faces a £1bn tax bill after HMRC launches fresh challenge.
Tax officials in the UK have issued a demand for more than £1bn in a case that stems from the Bambino Trust set up by Ecclestone in 1997 in Liechtenstein.
While Ecclestone is understood to have come to an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs in 2008, paying an alleged £10m settlement, the trial of former BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky and subsequent legal cases in Germany, spurred the tax man into action resulting in a new bill for £1bn.
The Bambino Trust, was set up for his (then) wife and daughters, and under the terms of the trust Ecclestone was to have no influence on it. However, during Gribkowsky's trial it was revealed that the trust had paid the banker when he attempted to report the F1 supremo to the British tax authorities.
It was also claimed that Ecclestone has received an estimated £300m from the trust since divorcing his former wife Slavica in 2009.
Ecclestone has now reacted with his own law suit his lawyers claiming that HMRC has reneged on the deal made in 2008.
"All this is technical, so I don't know what we've done or haven't done," Ecclestone told reporters in Monaco. "They said the best thing to do to get this out of the way is to take the action they have taken," he added, referring to his legal team's recommendation.
"I've never, ever, ever had anything to do with the trust," he insisted. "I've paid all the taxes I've ever had to pay."
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