At the recent ‘fan forums’ arranged by the club and Fisher and the Financial Director, Steve Brookfield were questioned over three evenings. An audience member directed a question at Brookfield regarding which company was acting as the football club and probed him for the detail as to which company collected income and paid the subsequent expenses. More specifically, he was asked how declarations for VAT was administered. Brookfield, as current finance director, stated that CCFC submit ‘group VAT returns’ that incorporates the trading activity of SBSL Ltd, CCFC Ltd and CCFC Holdings Ltd. He stated that
Well, it’s a group VAT registration. So, it covers Limited, Holdings and Sky Blue Sports & Leisure actually.
Although separate legal entities, a set of related companies can apply to register to submit VAT returns as a group. HMRC rules state, under Notice 700/2 Group and divisional registration that
When a VAT group is registered, any previous VAT registration numbers that individual members may have had will be cancelled and a new number will be issued to the group as a whole.
However, CCFC Ltd’s VAT number is 655 133 937 whilst CCFC Holdings Ltd is different – 708 79 738. Both are currently valid VAT numbers [checked 13 June 2013]. This means that both would have to submit separate VAT returns, not as suggested by the head of finance, as a group. I have received documents that show that season tickets and purchases from club shop display the VAT number of CCFC Ltd, whilst invoices for applications to the legends club season tickets display the VAT number registered to CCFC Holdings Ltd. The Companies do not share a VAT number as required by law to submit a group return. Either the FD is mistaken or the companies are in breach of further company legislation. Either way, questions should be asked if he has the skills required to control the finances of a group of companies with such a complex structure. Are control and checks sufficient? Is this the man to take matters forward and sort out ‘the mess’?