NEWS STORY : Former Darts World Champion Rob Cross Disqualified as Company Director Over Unpaid Tax Bill

STORY

Rob Cross, the former PDC World Darts Champion famously crowned “Voltage” in 2018, has been banned from serving as a company director for five years after his business failed to pay over £450,000 in taxes. The Insolvency Service announced today that Cross’s company, Rob Cross Darts Limited, fell into liquidation in November 2023 owing more than £400,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) alone.

Cross, 34, set up Rob Cross Darts Limited in May 2017 to manage his prize money and sponsorship income. However, an investigation revealed that between March 2020 and the date of liquidation, he removed in excess of £300,000 from the company—funds that should have been paid to creditors, including HMRC. By the time the firm went under, the director’s loan account that Cross had racked up stood at £423,608, and the business owed £403,896 in corporation tax, £49,071 in VAT and a further £12,436 in PAYE and National Insurance contributions.

In a bid to address some of the outstanding debt, Cross entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) last year. Under the IVA, he has undertaken to make regular payments to an insolvency practitioner, with the monthly amount fluctuating based on his future earnings in darts tournaments. Rob Cross Darts Limited had received just over £1 million from his winnings between March 2020 and November 2023, alongside nearly £170,000 in sponsorship money and more than £260,000 from Cross’s management company—but only paid £41,936 to HMRC in that same period.

Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, emphasised the wider impact of such shortfalls. “When directors fail to pay the correct amount of tax, it directly impacts the nation’s ability to fund vital public services such as the NHS, schools and transport infrastructure,” he said. “Rob Cross’s company owed more than £400,000 in corporation tax alone when it went into liquidation. For more than three years, he withdrew funds from the company that should have gone to HMRC and other creditors. This case demonstrates that we will pursue action against directors who deprive the public purse of much-needed funds.”

As part of the disqualification sanction, which began on 5 June, Cross is barred from promoting, forming or managing any company without prior permission from the court, a prohibition set to last until June 2030. Any breach of the ban could land him in court and carry further penalties.