Millionaire Premier League star earning £150k a week loses HMRC court battle over hundreds of thousands in unpaid tax
16 February 2025, 16:04
Millionaire Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has lost a High Court battle with HMRC over thousands of pounds in unpaid tax.
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Tax officials had been chasing his company Alex Zinchenko Image Rights over an outstanding tax bill totaling thousands of pounds.
The Ukrainian Arsenal defender is paid around £150k a week, or £7,800,000 per year under his current contract at the club.
He used his company to siphon some of the earnings he amassed throughout his lucrative career, during which the 28-year-old has already won four premier league titles with Manchester City.
The latest accounts from his business, from 2023, show that the company owed £893,133 in taxes in 2023 and £834,164 the previous year, according to the Sun.
The hearing, which only lasted for a few minutes, did not make clear the exact amount of tax owed by Zinchenko, but his representatives assured that the bill would be paid in full.
The company accounts also reveal Zinchenko took a £1.8million loan from the business.
HMRC began the process of shutting down the company in September last year, but the court heard a settlement was eventually reached, with the company set to close next month.
Zinchenko served as a director of the company, and held its only share until November 3, 2024. At that point, fellow director and Ukrainian FA official Artemijs Rjabovs took over.
Zinchenko, who was born in Ukraine, has been an outspoken supporter of his country since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.
He previously stated that he would leave the Premier League and go back to his country to serve in the military if they called him up for service.
At the time, he said: "I would go [to fight]. It's tough to understand that just recently we've been in the same school, we were playing in the playground or on the football pitch, and now they have to defend our country.
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"And, honestly, [it's] so hard to accept this, but it is what it is. We cannot give up."
He has also reportedly donated more than £1 million in aid to help refugees that have been forced to leave their homes because of the war, and said he personally knew many children whose parents had died in the war.
