Jody Scheckter, the 1979 Formula 1 world champion, has lost a court battle over a £1.4 million tax bill with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), following the collapse of his organic buffalo farming business. The ruling comes as a bitter blow for the 76-year-old South African legend.
Scheckter, who remains the only African to have won the F1 drivers' championship, purchased Laverstoke Park in Overton, Hampshire, in 1996 after moving to England with his wife Clare. He invested £55 million of his personal fortune into the estate and around 3,000 acres of surrounding land. The venture supplied organic meat to Ocado and specialised in buffalo mozzarella.
However, in 2024, the dairy and buffalo farming operations closed due to significant cost increases and a reduction in milk volumes. The seven-figure losses incurred by Laverstoke Farm Produce LLP were offset against taxes owed on other income through a mechanism known as sideways loss relief. HMRC declared the arrangement invalid in 2019 and demanded repayment.
In his ruling at the First-tier Tribunal, Judge Tony Beare said it was impossible to have been involved in the case without feeling "considerable sadness" at how the project had turned out. He acknowledged that Scheckter "was extremely passionate about the positive effects which healthier eating would engender for everyone," but ruled that the losses for the three relevant years could not lawfully be offset under the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005.
Scheckter stressed that he was not a hobby farmer seeking to avoid tax. But sideways loss relief is only available to farmers if the enterprise becomes profitable within five years of being established. The Laverstoke farming partnership registered a loss in almost every year since it was founded.
Scheckter's racing career was glittering. He competed in Formula 1 between 1972 and 1980, winning ten grands prix, and clinched the world championship with Ferrari in 1979. After retiring, he founded Firearms Training Systems, a weapons simulation business whose revenues exceeded £100 million by the early 1990s, before channelling much of that wealth into Laverstoke Park.
The court decision serves as a reminder that even a world champion can face sharp turns in real life. For Scheckter, the battle off the track may have been tougher than any duel on the circuit.
Baca Juga
Jody Scheckter, juara dunia F1 1979, kalah dalam sengketa pajak £1,4 juta dengan HMRC terkait bisnis peternakan kerbau organiknya yang bangkrut.
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