Ecclestone challenges tax claim worth over 1B pounds

Formula 1 magnate Bernie Ecclestone has challenged a UK tax claim of more than one billion pounds in a court here.

Lawyers for the 84-year-old tycoon, who's been at the F1 helm for 40 years, have applied for permission to seek a judicial review, claiming that the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) should not have attempted to make the tax assessments following an April 2008 agreement, reports the BBC.

The figure supposedly covers the period from the tax year ending 5 April 1996 to tax year ending 5 April 2006.

High court judge Justice Kenneth Parker has called one of the factors listed by Ecclestone for review doubtful, adding that the HMRC had notified him in December saying he had withheld information that made the 2008 agreement invalid.

The case focuses on the Ecclestone family's 1997 Liechtenstein Bambino Trust, which was set up for the help of his now ex-wife, Slavica, and daughters Tamara and Petra.

Ecclestone said he was not worried about the developments and that his lawyers would take care of it.