Manuel Pellegrini ‘receives HUGE fine worth over £343k for deliberately defaulting on tax’

Former Manchester City and West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini has been fined £343,000 for deliberate tax default.

Between April 2014 and April 2017, a period spanning his entire tenure at City, the Chilean manager avoided £816,579.80 according to a government report published Monday.

According to innewsHM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) imposed the fine, worth a total of £343,728.07, as part of their recent crackdown on tax avoidance within the sport.

In July, it was announced that a record 329 professional footballers are under investigation for alleged tax avoidance – a number that has risen dramatically from 93 in the previous term.

As part of the operation, the agency is said to have appointed a team of fraud experts to work with the FA’s Football Compliance Project.

The team is reportedly trying to combat tax avoidance through image rights, with clubs paying players more to use their image in advertising and endorsement campaigns.

These additional payments are often assumed to be paid to a company the player sets up and are therefore subject to 19 percent corporate income tax rather than the 45 percent income tax for high earners.

Pellegrini took charge of Manchester City in June 2013 and went on to win one Premier League title and two League Cups before being replaced in 2016 by current manager Pep Guardiola.

After a brief stint in China, the Chilean returned to England in a bid to emulate his City success at West Ham. He was fired in December 2019 after a year and a half, with the Hammers in 17th place.