Premier League Clubs Face Chances of Higher Salary Bills After Tax Change In 2027

Premier League teams are having a problem with the prospect of higher wage bill after the British government announced that player’s image rights will be seen as income from April 2027.

This change will leave many top level players with increased larger tax and some agents have said that this matter will likely be passed to the clubs. Especially for Premier League’s  players who sign new contracts before the rule takes effect.

Many Players receive money from their image rights that is paid to limited companies, like sponsorship and advertising income. Instead of being the corporate tax rate that is usually 25% this will change to be the 45% top rate income tax.

Some players signed from outside the UK are believed to have some clauses in their contract that make any tax regime change in the UK will be the liability of their club. But for those who don’t have that clause in their contract will likely demand more wages from the club.

Many Premier League players let the club take care of tax administration and use net pay as the base to negotiate their contract. This trend will very likely be continued. Image rights often generate a notable portion in payers’ income which is permitted as long as the amount is considered commercially realistic and doesn’t exceed 20% of total earning by HMRC. 

Also read: Premier League Clubs Get Ready As Guirassy’s Release Clause Set to Active on Summer 2026 – Price In UK

This rule makes the Premier League’s clubs’ increased liability become more considerable.

This rule by the government is a follow up action about the long-running HMRC’ clampdown on footballers’ incomes, that has recovered millions of poundsterling in unpaid tax.

Sheffield Hallam University’s head of finance, accounting and business systems, Prof Rob Wilson, explained:

 “With these changes, the government is ensuring remuneration reflects fair taxation, and giving a clearer picture of the wage bills driving financial sustainability debates in English football. There will be some short-term pain as clubs adjust, but in the long run this promotes greater integrity, accountability and confidence in the economics of the game.”

Plans From Premier League’s Club to Counter the Rule Change

To make sure the change regarding players’ earning tax rule doesn’t affect club’s financial in the long run, many club have been preparing some strategy to maintain the financial stability while still obligating the rules from the government. Read more news related to Premier League on – Price In UK

• Contract Renegotiation/Structuring: Clubs and agents are factoring the future 45% tax rate into new contracts or renegotiations to determine fair compensation.
• Forward Planning: Some players signed from overseas have clauses in their contracts that make their clubs liable for significant tax changes, a strategy likely to be used in future negotiations to protect players.
• Financial Modelling: Clubs are using financial models to anticipate and budget for higher overall wage costs from April 2027 onwards. 

This rule regarding the players’ earnings’ tax also come at the same time with Premier League’s new financial rules. This will replace the existed Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and change it with Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) and Sustainability and Systemic Resilience (SSR) rules.

These changes on the financial side of the game will make clubs be more careful with how they spend their money on the transfer fees and players’ wages in the future. As we know, Premier League is quite strich when it comes to breach of financial rule. Where points deduction will be given to clubs that break the rule.

It will be interesting to see how these clubs will tackle these new problems as teams usually take very careful measurement before new rules and regulations coming in their way.