John Barnes faces threat of bankruptcy
The former Liverpool and England winger is facing the renewed threat of financial ruin after HMRC lodged a petition at the High Court on Friday.
It was filed almost two months after it emerged he had racked up debts of more than £1.5m in his media firm, having been banned as a company director for three and a half years.
The latest liquidators' progress report on John Barnes Media Limited showed he owed HMRC £776,878 in unpaid VAT, NI and PAYE, £461,849 to unsecured creditors, a £226,000 directors loan and liquidators' costs worth £56,535.
It said Barnes, who has staved off multiple previous bankruptcy petitions since 2010 and last avoided going bust in 2023 after settling a personal-tax bill of more than £200,000, had paid back £60,000 after agreeing to return the director's loan in instalments.
The report anticipated that a 'small distribution' would be paid to HMRC but 'no funds' would be available for unsecured creditors.
The latest bankruptcy petition against Barnes was filed just over a year after he was banned from serving as a company director.
Investigations by the Insolvency Service revealed that, between 2018 and 2020, John Barnes Media Limited failed to pay more than £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT.
Barnes signed a disqualification undertaking banning him from being a company director for three and a half years.
Mike Smith, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 'Individuals and businesses not paying the tax they should deprives the Government of the funding it needs to provide vital public services and investment in areas such as schools, hospitals and roads.
'John Barnes had a legal duty to ensure his company paid the correct amount of corporation tax and VAT. Instead, it paid no tax whatsoever between November 2018 and October 2020, despite receiving earnings of well over £400,000.
'This disqualification should serve as a deterrent to other directors that if you do not pay your taxes while directing money elsewhere, you are at risk of being banned.'
Barnes, who earned 79 England caps during a playing career spanning almost two decades, formed John Barnes Media Limited in September 2012.
The company, of which he was the sole director, described itself as offering media representation services. Between November 2018 and October 2020, its turnover was £441,798.
The Insolvency Service said nothing was paid to HMRC in tax during that period, despite the company filing returns showing what the VAT payments should have been.
An investigation found John Barnes Media failed to pay £78,839 in corporation tax between August 2018 and January 2020, when the company ceased trading, and also failed to pay £115,272 in VAT between February 2019 and 2020.
Insolvency Service investigations into Barnes's conduct as a director began in September 2023 after his company went into liquidation and while he was also facing a bankruptcy petition over a £238,000 tax bill.
Barrister Nathan Webb, who represented the ex-footballer at a hearing that same month into Barnes's personal tax affairs, told the judge that his client 'just' needed time to pay.
He said Barnes was employed by Liverpool Football Club 'on a salary of £200,000' and was 'very well and able to pay'.
Two months later, the bankruptcy petition was dismissed after HMRC confirmed the debt had been paid and a settlement reached.
In 2009, Barnes saw a bankruptcy order against him rescinded following what he described as a 'tax oversight'. In March of that year, he told Telegraph Sport: 'I don't like dealing with taxes of course.
'I just hate not having enough money. Apart from that, I don't like dealing with bills and never have done. I let my wife Andrea deal with them. I don't even like opening them. A few times my credit card has been declined when I've been travelling abroad.
'Then I have to get creative about paying the bill and have to really root around. That's much more satisfying than just having it come easily.'
Recent years have seen Barnes become a leading – and sometimes controversial – commentator on racism in football and wider society.
In November 2022, Liverpool said in a statement that Barnes had been appointed as a 'club ambassador' – a role that would 'see him represent the Reds at home and abroad'.
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