Asda is threatening to take legal action against a former chief executive in a bid to recover £600,000 of tax it claims it mistakenly paid on his share options.
Allan Leighton is a prominent business figure once credited with helping to turn the chain’s fortune’s around in the 1990s.
He cashed in his share options on leaving the post of chief executive in 2000. Asda claims that an administrative error meant it failed to deduct £600,000 tax due on those options.
The chain is now issuing a claim to recover the money as the six-year limit for taking such disputes to court is drawing near.
Leighton, now chairman of the Royal Mail, is allegedly claiming that he also paid the tax on the shares
An Asda spokesman told the paper in a statement: “We can’t simply say goodbye to £600,000 - the thousands of colleagues working in our stores would expect us to do nothing less.
“If Allan has paid the tax, wasn’t reimbursed by the Inland Revenue and therefore has fulfilled the tax obligation, then we have no argument. All he has to do is make that clear and we can jointly go back to the Inland Revenue and get a refund for the double payment.
“The fact that the Revenue will not reimburse us leads us to assume that he was paid was reimbursed. We’re still hopeful that Allan will take the opportunity to put this issue to bed amicably and settle out of court.”
Leighton said in a statement: “Having received from Asda’s lawyers in the last few days information we requested from them, the matter is now being considered by my lawyers to see what scope there is to resolve this.”
