Wasps have confirmed talks are ongoing between the club and HMRC following reports of an unpaid tax bill. The former Premiership and European champions issued a response to a newspaper report that they are being chased by the non-ministerial department over the supposed debt.
The Coventry-based side claimed they have a positive relationship with HMRC and have an agreement in place to make their payments. "We have a strong relationship with HMRC," said a Wasps statement.
"In common with many businesses, we agreed a time-to-pay arrangement with HMRC coming out of Covid-19 lockdown." The statement added: "We will continue to engage in proactive discussions with them.
"Many companies and business sectors are in exactly the same situation after the most economically challenging two and a half years in living memory. Individual businesses in leisure, sport, entertainment, conferencing and hospitality have been hit particularly hard and we are involved in all five of those sectors.
"We have a robust business model with a busier than ever order book for concerts, conferences, exhibitions and other events which will see us prosper into the future." The bondholders who invested in the club and helped raise £35m in April 2015, have reportedly yet to be paid. The most recent set of accounts, for Wasps Holdings, which covered the financial year ending June 2021, shows an £18.5m loss over a two-year period, with current arrears of £54.7m.
Wasps, who were based in London during their amateur years, have had three homes since rugby union became professional in 1996 - QPR’s home ground of Loftus Road, High Wycombe and Coventry has been their home since December 2014.
Its football team Coventry City, have so far had to postpone three home league matches this season, with the latest being today's home game with Huddersfield due to the dire pitch.
This is due to the Commonwealth Games which hosted 65 games of Rugby Sevens that were played on the pitch. Earlier this month Sky Blues’ boss Mark Robins was left furious and said the field was left in a dangerous state. He said: “The pitch isn’t in good nick - it’s nowhere near the level we expect - there’s been issues because the Commonwealth Games has been there and concerts in the summer.
“We will see but there’s no doubt about it, we’ve been let down, the pitch needs to be in better order than this. It has to be safe for people to play on, and at the moment, it’s not.”
However, things are looking up as a course of action to repair it has now been agreed between tenants Coventry and landlords Wasps to ensure the football club return for their game against Preston on Wednesday August 31. Coventry CEO Dave Boddy said: “It has been a disappointing and frustrating start to the season for our supporters, and we are very sorry to them that this has been the case.”
