LONDON: English Premier League football clubs and their star players are being investigated by the tax authorities over “secret perks,” a newspaper reported Sunday.

Investigators from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have interviewed finance directors at Britain’s richest clubs to find out more about the benefits footballers receive, The Mail on Sunday said.

Officials from an HMRC unit which usually deals with the tax affairs of people worth at least £20 million ($31 million, 24 million euros) had sent out a questionnaire to at least 24 leading clubs, the report said.

They were asking for details of free holidays, luxury accommodation and other gifts, it said.

The information would be checked against players’ own tax returns to see whether they could be liable for any unpaid tax or if clubs may have to make additional National Insurance payroll tax contributions, the report added.

“We are not talking about a few low-cost gifts. These people are multi-millionaires,” the weekly tabloid quoted an unnamed source as saying.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think it was going to bring in a lot of money.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from. If you work in the UK you are liable to pay tax on your UK earnings.”

An HMRC spokesman set out their basic position.

“We cannot discuss individual cases under any circumstances,” he said.