Quote: Finfin "What was the debt when Whelan sold - the impression is that he was using us as a tax loss leader - ie only the minimum of income was put through the rugby club's books and income from various sources was routed to other areas in Whelan's empire (all legal I may add).'"
You cant choose where to put your income. If Wigan RLFC took £2million in gate receipts, then it goes through the books of Wigan RLFC limited company. By the same token, if Wigan RLFC paid out £2million in wages, its an expense in the books of Wigan RLFC limited company. Of course there are ways of moving income and expenses around but these have to be legit and reasonable. For example, Whelans holding company might have charged Wigan RLFC for use of office space or consultancy, but it has to be a reasonable amount. You cant just charge what you want to maximise profit/losses. Whelan would have been using any loss made in the limited company of wigan RLFC against profits made in his other companies that were in the same group. However, I am assuming that Wigan RLFC is no longer part of a group so any losses made will just accumulate until the company makes profits. Unless IL has restructured his companies to include Wigan RLFC.
