ITV star Lorraine Kelly has opened up about her struggles after successfully challenging a £1.2 million tax bill in 2019 for income tax and national insurance contributions by HMRC.The 64 year old Scottish presenter, who has been the face of her own ITV show since 2010, argued in court that she is a self-employed freelancer who "presents a persona", and therefore should not be taxed as an ITV employee.
Although the judge ruled in her favour, Lorraine has now confessed her regret over the situation, explaining that she 'just wanted to forget' about the whole situation after winning the case.
Talking to The Times in a new interview, she said: "We won the case, but we lost the PR battle. Looking back, I probably should have said more about it.
I just thought, 'I just want to forget about that and move on.'" During the trial, Judge Jennifer Dean disagreed with the argument that Lorraine simply appeared as herself on TV, stating: "We did not accept that Ms Kelly simply appeared as herself - we were satisfied that Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself, she presents herself as a brand and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her." Adding more to her decision, she said: "All parts of the show are a performance, the act being to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality.
Read more on ok.co.uk