Eamonn Holmes regrets ‘stupid’ error as Lorraine Kelly dodged tax row ‘Negates my defence'
express.co.ukEamonn Holmes, 62, is still in the middle of a tax row with HMRC after the non-ministerial department of the UK Government accused the presenter of paying lower taxes by claiming that he was working as a freelancer.The former This Morning presenter was first targeted by HMRC back in 2018, after they claimed that his former jobs at Sky News, GMTV, Channel 5 and This Morning were staff jobs rather than self-employment.Speaking to Express.co.uk about his ongoing appeal, the latest of which he lost, Eamonn shared: “[It] was the most horrible experience of my life.“I had just come away two weeks earlier from the Inland Revenue bringing me to court about IR35 about being self employed or not.“It seems to be very, very unfair that they can attack you retrospectively."The GB News breakfast host then went on to say that unlike Lorraine Kelly, 62, he has been unable to avoid the scrutiny of the taxman.Speaking on Lorraine’s “unusual” case, in which she faced a £1.2 million tax bill after she was targeted by HMRC back in 2016 on the same grounds as Eamonn, the presenter said: “She's one of the few people who's won it, because she said, in her defence, she wasn't Lorraine.“She said that she is a character that played Lorraine Kelly, and therefore it was like being an actor.“Whereas people like me stupidly say, ‘Well, I'm the same person on screen as I am off screen.’“That negates my defence.”The star finished by saying: “So she is one of the few people who has gone off the radar.”With his battle with HMRC having gone on for nearly four years, Eamonn explained the physical toll it has taken on his health, including a battle with shingles, which developed back in 2018.Defending himself, Eamonn added: “It is nonsense.
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