Adrian Chiles tax: TV presenter faces new hearing in £1.7 million tax battle with HMRC

TV presenter Adrian Chiles, who is best known for presenting The One Show and Radio 5 Live, faces a new hearing in his legal battle with HMRC over allegedly owing £1.7 million.

Earlier this year, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) appealed against a 2022 tribunal decision that the presenter’s services through his personal company Basic Broadcasting Limited (BBL), should not be treated as work performed under employment contracts for tax purposes.

In a ruling made public on Monday (June 10), two judges at a more senior tribunal ruled the case should be reconsidered after a “flawed approach” was taken.

Chiles previously brought a case against HMRC over income tax and national insurance the organisation said was due from his “personal service company” Basic Broadcasting Limited (BBL). Officials concluded BBL owed £1,249,433 in income tax and an additional £460,739 in national insurance in relation to several of Chiles’s BBC and ITV contracts between 2012 and 2017.

HMRC have argued that under tax rules Chiles should be treated as if he were an employee of the organisations and that BBL should pay the amounts it is said to owe. Chiles is the sole director for BBL, with BBL lawyers stating that the presenter should be treated as a self-employed contractor and that the company had no further tax liability.

In February 2022, the First Tier Tribunal ruled in Chiles’ favour, stating there was “no suggestion that Mr Chiles set out to avoid tax by supplying his services through BBL”. But in the Upper Tribunal judgment, published on June 7, Mr Justice Meade and Judge Thomas Scott said the decision will need to be reconsidered at the First Tier Tribunal due to “an error of law”.

They said: “We have not found this to be an easy decision. The toll which the prolonged appeal process has already taken on Mr Chiles is significant, and was described by him in a powerful witness statement which we have considered again and with care in preparing this decision.”

Sarah McCann is a Trends Writer for NationalWorld. If you liked this article you can follow Sarah on X (Twitter) here. You can also sign up to her free weekly column in the NationalWorld newsletter bringing you the latest tv and film news every Thursday.