Lyden Behind With His Tax Affairs

 

Former Hereford mid-fielder Jordan Lyden has had problems both on and off the field in recent years.

According to AccountingWeb, two serious injuries, the first at Swindon then another whilst playing for Hereford, caused Lyden to get behind with his tax affairs.

'Jordan Lyden currently plays for Bromsgrove Sporting, but the Australian soccer player has previously laced his boots for Hereford, Leyton Orient and Aston Villa, where he made his professional debut. 

It was at Swindon Town in February 2022 though, where he suffered what he thought might have been a career-ending Achilles tendon injury. The injury only ended up being season-ending, but the toll of the injury had a knock-on effect on his tax affairs. 

Lyden returned to Australia as he tends to during the summer off-season, but he returned slightly earlier to recuperate from the injury. His accountants said during the tribunal that while he was in Australia, fearing the end of his football career, he was “not in a good head space” to deal with his tax affairs. 

As such, Lyden was a little over four months late in making an appeal against a closure notice. Therefore, when the case reached the first tier tribunal, the judge had to determine whether Lyden’s injury, which apparently left him in a poor mental state and unable to attend to his tax affairs, was a valid reason for his late appeal. 

The former Australia under-20 player received closure notices for the tax years 2018/19 and 2019/20 in January 2023. 

The first-year dispute concerned the deductibility of travel expenses and agent fees, while the second-year dispute involved income omitted from the tax return but later included in a submission by the club. 

His accountants initially appealed to HMRC against the notices in February 2023. HMRC returned with a view of the matter letter a few weeks later, concluding that the closure notices were correct. 

The Revenue then issued a review conclusion letter on 23 May 2023. The footballer had 30 days to respond – meaning the deadline was 22 June 2023. It wasn’t until 25 October – four months later – that HMRC received an appeal. 

Lyden’s accountant, Dave Parker, argued that the delay was due not only to Lyden not being in the right mental state to deal with his tax affairs but he also contracted Covid in September 2023 and there was no one else at the firm to take care of the tribunal appeal. Although he conceded that he could have made greater efforts to contact Lyden over the summer, but the firm was too busy with other work. 

The accountant also argued the point that giving taxpayers only 30 days to lodge an appeal isn’t fair because “HMRC can get away with not responding for months on end”. 

HMRC responded that an experienced agent should have dealt with the affairs promptly but the reasons given were “insufficient” to justify the delay. The Revenue added that when Lyden had delegated responsibility to an agent while he was overseas, the lack of contact with the agent during the summer was not an acceptable excuse. 

“Australia is not a jurisdiction that the appellant could suggest they had difficulties accessing telephone lines, emails or other modern methods of communication,” HMRC maintained. 

HMRC noted that Lyden signed with Hereford in September 2023, questioning why he was able to communicate with his sports agent and focus on signing a contract but not attend to his tax affairs.

The Revenue also emphasised allowing the appeal would require diverting resources to defend a case they already considered closed. 

The tribunal agreed that a delay of four months was “significant and serious”. 

Judge Abigail McGregor considered the accountant’s illness and while agreeing that this could have constituted a good reason for the delay, by the time he was off work, the appeal was already two months late. 

Then there was Lyden being in Australia during this period and whether this was a good reason for the delay. The judge disagreed with this as a good enough reason, noting that the taxpayer could have instructed his accountant from the other side of the world or even done it himself. 

Judge McGregor recognised that Lyden did appoint an agent to look after his tax affairs but stressed that this does not remove responsibility for action and decision-making from the taxpayer. “Mr Lyden, as a responsible taxpayer, should have ensured that his tax affairs continued to be dealt with while he was on an extended break in Australia, particularly given this was a matter of which he had been aware for some time,” said the judge. 

Weighing up all these issues, the judges ruled that Lyden did not have a good enough reason for the significant delay and refused the late appeal. 

The judge blew the final whistle on Lyden’s appeal, adding to the footballer’s recent struggles. According to Wikipedia, he suffered another long-term injury at Hereford during a pre-season friendly. On a brighter note, he signed with Southern League Premier Division team Bromsgrove Sporting in December 2004.'