Frankie Dettori named after HMRC anonymity battle over ‘tax avoidance scheme’

Frankie Dettori has been involved in a legal battle with HMRC over his anonymity, after using a “tax avoidance scheme”, it can now be reported.

The jockey can be named after losing a challenge over his anonymity in proceedings at a specialist tax tribunal, after HMRC and the media, including the PA news agency, said he should be identified.

Mr Dettori said on Monday that he had been told the structure he used was approved by HMRC, adding that new advisers “are working hard to unravel the mess that I have been put in”.

Mr Dettori, who is Italian, originally brought an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal against HMRC’s decision to deny him some deductions for income tax.

In 2019 he asked for his case to be paused and more than a year later asked not to be named and for his case to be heard in private.

A judge in 2021 said that the “preliminary matters” could be heard in private, while a different judge in 2022 ruled that Mr Dettori should be anonymised.

HMRC brought a challenge and, in January this year, the more senior Upper Tribunal ruled there had been “material errors of law”, and overturned the decision to have some of the hearings in his case in private.

Mr Dettori then made a bid to continue his anonymity, telling the tribunal that he was withdrawing the initial legal challenge over the tax deductions.

His lawyers argued that someone who has lost a bid to be kept anonymous should be able to withdraw their case without being named.

PA, the Times, the Sun and non-profit Tax Policy Associates, as well as HMRC, opposed the jockey’s anonymity, saying that not being named should be the exception and only when justified.

“The fact that the taxpayer may be in the public eye and may prefer the public not to know about his affairs does not justify the principle of open justice being restricted,” Hui Ling McCarthy KC, for HMRC, said in written submissions, describing the structure used as a “tax avoidance scheme”.

In a judgment in November, Mr Justice Miles and Judge Thomas Scott ruled in favour of the media and HMRC, and on Monday, Mr Dettori was named in the ruling.

The judges said: “If one steps back it is clear that something has gone awry… (The Taxpayer) has obtained the benefit of privacy for all preliminary proceedings, without having produced any evidence of harm or prejudice, for an open-ended period, in a situation where, should he decide to withdraw or settle his appeal and not pursue the privacy and anonymity application, that benefit would not be reversible.”

They also said that it was “a blanket derogation from open justice by the backdoor”.

After the lifting of his anonymity on Monday, Mr Dettori said: “A few years ago I employed the services of professional specialist tax advisers to look after mine and my family’s financial affairs.

“A structure was created and I was told that it had been approved by HMRC.

“Years later HMRC is now challenging that structure. My former advisers have since been dismissed.

“My new advisers and management team are working hard to unravel the mess that I have been put in.

“They are also working closely with HMRC to resolve the matter as swiftly as possible.”

An HMRC spokesman said: “We welcome this decision, which represents an important win for the principle of open justice.

“We’re committed to ensuring everyone pays the right tax under the law, regardless of wealth or status.”