article: Is this the end of the legal struggle and what are the ramifications of the judgement? EBT stands for Employee Benefit Trust and, in this case, it refers to a scheme that was widely used by large companies in a bid to avoid tax liabilities. Companies would set up trusts and make cash payments from these trusts in the form of tax-free loans to employees or beneficiaries - thus avoiding the need to pay tax. In many cases the loans were never repaid. Legislation has since been passed outlawing the use of the scheme for tax avoidance purposes. Payments from an EBT are not allowed to be made on a contractual basis but HMRC insist the loans made by the club between 2001 and 2010 were actually employee earnings that should be subject to the normal National Insurance and PAYE contributions. They point to emails and letters between Rangers directors and players' agents and to the fact that none of loans have ever been paid back. Players, managers and even directors received EBTs at Rangers. Stars such as Barry Ferguson and Lorenzo Amoruso benefited from the scheme as did managers Alex McLeish, Dick Advocaat and Graeme Souness. Former owner Sir David Murray was also in receipts of an EBT. Over 80 members of Rangers staff received payments this way. The loans paid to each member of staff differed but a total of over £47m was paid out from the trusts in the years the scheme was in operation. There will undoubtedly be calls for the football authorities to act following this judgement. A Scottish Premier League investigation headed by Lord Nimmo Smith found Rangers guilty of not registering players properly and the company was fined in 2013. Nimmo Smith's judgement was made at a time when the EBT scheme was deemed acceptable by a tax tribunal and he resisted calls for the club to be stripped of honours won during the years the scheme was in operation, saying "Rangers FC did not gain any unfair competitive advantage from the contraventions of the SPL Rules..." It's unlikely the football authorities will have much appetite to sanction another investigation but that won't stop some calling for just that. A spokesman said the Scottish Premier Football League will "take time to examine the ‎judgement in detail and to consider any implications..." Celtic are the only other Scottish club to have used the EBT scheme. They paid the Brazilian midfielder Juninho from a trust in 2005 but have since settled with HMRC. A number of clubs in England also operated the scheme and some have already settled with HMRC. The case was first heard by a First Tier Tax Tribunal in 2012. The tribunal found in Rangers' favour but HMRC appealed. In 2014 that appeal was thrown out by an Upper Tier Tribunal. HMRC then appealed to the court of session in Edinburgh and three judges found in the Revenue's favour. Since the dispute started Rangers were forced into administration and liquidation. In a bid to avoid a tax bill, the club's liquidators BDO decided to
summary: The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in its fight with Rangers over the club's use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs).