Group Tax Strategy
Scope
The Manchester United Group (the “Group”) regards publication of this tax strategy as fulfilment of its obligations under Paragraph 19(2), Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016 to publish its Group Tax Strategy for the year ending 30 June 2025, which covers Red Football Holdings Ltd and all of its UK subsidiaries.
Overview
We are one of the most supported and successful sports teams in the world, playing one of the most popular spectator sports on earth. Through our 147-year heritage we have won 68 trophies, including a joint record 20 English league titles, enabling us to develop what we believe is one of the world’s leading sports brands and a global community of 1.1 billion fans and followers. Our large, passionate community provides us with a worldwide platform to generate significant revenue from multiple sources, including sponsorship, merchandising, product licensing, broadcasting and matchday. We attract leading global companies such as adidas, DXC and Qualcomm that want access and exposure to our community of followers and association with our brand.
Our football operations are primarily comprised of the following activities: our men’s first team, our women’s team, our youth academy, our global scouting networks and other operations such as our sport science, medical and fitness operations at Carrington.
Approach to tax planning
The Group is committed to complying with all applicable tax laws in the UK and all the countries in which it operates. It is recognised that taxation matters are often significant in a corporate transaction, and therefore a key objective of our strategy is to ensure that the tax affairs of the Group are in good order and uncertainties / the level of tax risk are minimised.
The Group’s established ethical framework is such that deliberately failing to comply with tax law is unacceptable. Whilst we do not undertake transactions led by a planning purpose, we do, as part of our commercial activities, consider the tax consequences.
Attitude towards and management of risk
When evaluating a taxation matter, consideration will be given to the level of risk, the ease of implementation and consideration of any tax reliefs or opportunities available to us that are clearly within the legislation.
The Group maintains internal competence in corporate and transactional taxes (collectively the “Group Tax Team”) to ensure company corporate tax returns are properly prepared and indirect, and payroll taxes are properly accounted for and reported, whilst tax guidance and advice is obtained from external tax advisors as appropriate. Appropriate training is carried out for staff outside the Group Tax Team who manage, or process matters which have tax implications.
The Group Tax Team is responsible for the maintenance of an appropriate tax control framework and a register of tax risks is maintained and updated as and when required.
Governance
The Group CFO is the Group’s designated Senior Accounting Officer and hence ultimately responsible for overseeing the overall Group tax strategy and governance, with the day-to-day responsibility sitting with the Group Head of Tax, who reports to the CFO.
The CFO and Group Head of Tax reports bi-annually to the Group Board at the audit committee meetings. The Group Board is provided with a bi-annual report, prepared by the Head of Tax which provides an update on key issues covering tax and compliance matters. It is the responsibility of the Group Tax Team to ensure all taxation issues are promptly reported to the Group CFO as soon as they become aware of them.
Relationship with HMRC
The Group operates a transparent approach with its dedicated compliance manager at HMRC with regards to taxation. The Group will disclose any uncertain matters with HMRC to maintain transparency, for example where it considers that HMRC may take a different view or where the Group is seeking confirmation of a particular approach.