TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, who has been involved in a long-running dispute with UK tax authorities over a 2018 ruling, has used his GB News breakfast show to criticise HMRC and its use of IR35 legislation.
Holmes said that people were being “ruthlessly pursued” by HMRC through IR35 rules, claiming that this was often for “no reason at all”. The event marked the second time that Holmes has used his GB News platform to criticise the tax authority, following similar on-air statements in February 2022.
During his remarks, Holmes characterised HMRC as being “basically the department of thievery”, asserting that those targeted through IR35 rules were being “hounded for money they don’t have”. In February, Holmes had similarly remarked that HMRC “ruin lives” when they charge people backdated tax.
In 2018, a court ruled that Holmes owed HMRC £250,000 for work that he had completed for Channel 5, ITV and Sky News over the past decade. While Holmes had been registered as self-employed at the time, HMRC determined that these roles qualified as staff jobs.
In an interview earlier this year, Holmes said that the case had been a “humiliating experience” and that “when something like this happens, people see you as some kind of a tax dodger”. It has been widely reported that Holmes intends to appeal the ruling.
Holmes is one of several high-profile figures to have been involved in an IR35 dispute with HMRC, along with TV presenters Gary Lineker, Lorraine Kelly and Dave Clark. HMRC recently lost a Court of Appeal case over IR35 against presenter Kaye Adams, prompting questions over whether the tax authority will need to change its interpretation of IR35 and several guidance tools.
