The appeal related to a disputed tax bill for £695,461.97 covering a period of time when Barnes was working for Sky Sport’s rugby coverage through his personal services company, S&L Barnes Ltd.

The tax liability was split between £481,364.20 for income tax and the remaining £214,097.77 for national insurance contributions (NICs). The total tax at stake does not include interest.

The Upper Tribunal took the decision to overturn the First Tier Tribunal decision from last year, yet another example of a Sky contract falling foul of the IR35 intermediaries legislation.