The world of professional sports is littered with stories of people who splurged away their earnings and fell into tough times due to financial mismanagement.
The latest big name in trouble is darts legend Mervyn King, who has claimed that he didn’t realize he had to pay tax on his earnings across his 30-year career. The High Court of Justice in London declared the 58-year-old bankrupt, and he now faces losing his home due to a hefty ￡500,000 ($646,000) tax bill.
While darts didnvt have the same level of prize money as it does now for most of King’s career, his total earnings still reached ￡2m ($2.6m). The crux of the issue is that he declared income from tournaments as ‘winnings,’ when in fact, prize money is taxable ‘earnings.’
He revealed that he contacted the authorities to come clean when he realized his mistake and believes that saved him from having to spend time in prison.
King hopes that other players won’t let the same thing happen to them
By sharing his story, King hopes that other players won’t let the same thing happen to them. He questioned why the big darts organizations PDC and BDO don’t properly educate players about what their tax obligations are for prize money. He claimed they hand out winnings without any further help or information.