ITV's Lorraine Kelly admits her one big regret after dodging £1.2m tax bill
24.02.2024 - 19:31
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Lorraine Kelly admitted she's got one huge regret despite dodging a tax bill for an eye-watering £1.2m
The Scottish TV star, who presents her own show on ITV, took HMRC to court back in 2019 after she was hit with a bill for income tax and national insurance contributions.
The 64-year-old who has fronted her self-titled series since 2010 argued that she is a self-employed freelancer who "presents a persona" and that she should therefore not be taxed as an employee of ITV.
The judge ended up ruling in her favour but the mum-of-one says she didn't escape the experience unscathed, the Mirror reports.
Opening up about the ordeal, the Masked Singer star confessed there is one thing she wishes she had done differently.
Speaking to The Times, she admitted: "We won the case, but we lost the PR battle. Looking back, I probably should have said more about it. I just thought, 'I just want to forget about that and move on.'"
During the trial, Judge Jennifer Dean said she didn't agree with the argument that Lorraine simply appeared as herself, saying she was presenting a "persona".
She said: "We did not accept that Ms Kelly simply appeared as herself - we were satisfied that Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself, she presents herself as a brand and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her."
Adding further weight to her ruling, she continued: "All parts of the show are a performance, the act being to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality.
"Quite simply put, the programmes are entertaining, Ms Kelly is entertaining and the 'DNA' referred to is the personality, performance, the 'Lorraine Kelly' brand that is brought to the programmes.
"She may not like the guest she interviews, she may not like the food she eats,