Leeds plan in doubt after tax man's challenge Tue 03 Jul, 07:47 PM LONDON (Reuters) - Ken Bates' hopes of regaining control of Leeds United suffered a blow on Tuesday when the Inland Revenue challenged his proposed takeover. A statement on the Yorkshire club's Web site said that the tax authority had confirmed its opposition to the planned re-sale of the club to Bates. "The club can confirm that the Inland Revenue have served notice of their intentions to challenge the CVA (Company Voluntary Agreement)," said the statement. "We do not have all the details as yet and do have a number of options available to us," the club added. "We remain confident of a positive outcome despite this disappointing news and will carry on with business as usual in the meantime." Creditors had until 4 p.m. on Tuesday to contest the CVA proposed by Bates. The Revenue lodged its appeal at the High Court around an hour before this deadline, which marked the close of the 28-day statutory period granted to creditors to contest the plan. The Revenue lost over 7 million pounds in unpaid tax when Leeds went into administration on May 4 with debts of 35 million pounds. ONE PENNY Bates, the former Chelsea chairman who bought Leeds in January 2005, had initially regained control of the club when 75.2 per cent of creditors approved his plan to offer them just one pence for every one pound owed. He improved that original offer by eight times in an attempt to head off a potential challenge. The improved offer would have given the Revenue an improved payment of 600,000 pounds instead of the 77,000 pounds afforded it by the original plan. The Revenue's decision casts further doubt on the immediate future of the Elland Road club. So long as administrators KPMG retain control of Leeds, manager Dennis Wise is unable to begin the process of rebuilding a team preparing for life in the third tier of English football for the first time in their 87-year history following their relegation last season.
