Eamonn Holmes has said he was forced to sell his Belfast property after losing two appeals battles with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The GB News presenter was left hundreds of thousands of pounds out after pocket after it was ruled he needed to fork out for a decade’s worth of National Insurance and tax back payments. Eamonn, 64, had insisted his time spent working for ITV was done so as a freelancer rather than the broadcaster’s own employee.
Tax officials saw otherwise, however, despite the former This Morning star claiming he never received any sick pay, holiday pay, or shares in companies. As a result, he was reportedly left with a bill of a around £250,000.
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Eamonn spoke of his woes to his former co-star Gerry Kelly. “I had a house here until six weeks ago when I was forced to sell it by the Inland Revenue [referring to HMRC],” he explained.
(Image: GB NEWS)
He continued: “It’s something I’m very bitter about because people think you earn lots of money and therefore you have to pay. It’s like they have taken away everything I ever worked for. People think it’s only the Eamonn Holmeses of this world that they’re after. But it’s not. The country is broken.”
Last year Eamonn opened up on his ordeal, stating HMRC’s demand – originally made in 2018 – could have left him blind. He said learning of the hefty bill triggered a shingles attack, which left him him covered in blisters.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
He cursed: “I jumped back when I looked at myself in the mirror. I thought, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ It was bloody scary to see it. It looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to my face and smashed me about a bit. Blindness could have been a complication in my case.
“The doctor said it’s really bad for you because it is around your eyes and could be bad for your ophthalmic nerves. Medically, it was pretty serious.” Luckily Eamonn made a complete recovery with a “course of antibiotics and ointments” before his first appeal against HMRC was thrown out in a 2020 tribunal.
(Image: GB NEWS)
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Northern Irishman Eamonn added: “The hearing was like a lamb to the slaughter – the most humiliating experience.” The TV host appealed against the ruling at the Upper Tribunal in London in January 2023, but 12 months on he has discovered he has lost again.
Eamonn joined right-wing broadcaster GB News in 2022, joining Isobel Webster to present Breakfast with Eamonn and Isobel.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
