West Ham Vice-Chairman Karren Brady’s own website values West Ham at £800m which if true would mean that the owners would need to pay the state London stadium owners nearly £120m if they sold before 2023.
If the owners sold up before March 2023 a calculation within the concessionaire agreement is used to work out how much is paid back to the taxpayer. If the club is sold for £125m or less then no tax is due, 7.5% tax is due if the club is sold between £125m & £150m, 10% tax due between £150-£200m & 12.5% tax between £200-£300m with anything above £300m costing 20% in windfall tax. Like income tax, the calculation has an accumulative effect.
This means a £800m sale would mean a windfall tax of £119.3m paid to the public sector owners of the London Stadium.
Sullivan and Gold own 86.2% of the West Ham United shares meaning their share of the windfall tax would be just under £103m.
If the club is sold after March 2023 then no windfall tax is due to the London Stadium owners.
The club is worth nowhere near 800 million
And there are ways around this. Say the club is worth 600 million. And a wealthy individual wanted to but it tomorrow. Sullivan could sell it for 125 million on the agreement that this wealthy individual also purchase another of his businesses, (one not so profitable) for 475 million.
Correct Bill.
Any deal would be structured and there are plenty of ways to avoid the charge that would be payable to the stadium owners.
In fact, if it is the charge which is holding Sullivan back from selling, I will structure the deal for him for half the usual fee, just to help him complete an early sale.
I understand your logic Sean but if they are still in charge that long there will be no club left to sell.Their incompetence and greed is destroying the club very very quickly and there will be nothing left by then.
Spot on Paul …I’ve never felt further away form the club l loved since I was 4 and I’m now 45 ..it really is a mess and the fans deserve better ….with these owners we could be the next Sunderland…or Leeds when they just folded…there is just no let up with the problems on and of the pitch ..and no let up with the owners incompetence …it’s a really bad time to be a West ham fan and by the end of the season could be a lot worse…
Roll on 2023.
By the way, I am no financial expert but is it as simple as you suggest Bill. You probably no more about this than I do so my apologies, but I just wonder if it is the same as with Inheritance Tax & Capital Gains Tax. Yawn…Yes but with those if say I decided to pass on my house to my daughter that would be taxable as part of my estate. So I sell it to her instead for £5. I am pretty sure they would come after her & value the house at its ‘real’ value for tax purposes.