Jamie Carragher faces bankruptcy over unpaid tax bill as HMRC files petition

Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool and England defender turned television pundit, faces being declared bankrupt over an unpaid tax bill.

A bankruptcy petition against James Lee Duncan Carragher was filed on Wednesday by lawyers representing HM Revenue and Customs, the UK's tax authority. The petition was first reported by City AM and confirmed by BBC Sport on 27 August 2026.

An HMRC spokesperson told BBC Sport that the department "takes a supportive approach" to customers with tax debts and only petitions for bankruptcy as a last resort. In other words, bankruptcy — a legal process in which a person's assets are used to pay off what they owe — is not the first tool HMRC reaches for. It is the end of the line.

Carragher, now 48, played for Liverpool between 1996 and 2013, making 737 appearances for the club. He won the Champions League in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2006, and earned 38 caps for England. Since retiring, he has become one of the most recognisable voices in football broadcasting, appearing on Sky Sports' Premier League coverage, the Stick To Football podcast, and CBS Sports' Champions League programming in the United States.

The tax bill's size has not been made public, nor has Carragher commented on the petition. A bankruptcy petition is a formal legal step; it does not automatically mean a person is bankrupt. The matter would need to be heard and approved by a court before a bankruptcy order is made.

This is not the first financial difficulty to surface around Carragher's business interests. In 2013, a Liverpool bar business he was involved in was placed into liquidation — the process of closing a company and distributing whatever is left to creditors — after running up debts of £1.18 million, according to The Caterer. That business was separate from his current media work, and there is no indication the two situations are connected.

Carragher is far from the only former Liverpool player to face HMRC action. John Barnes, who played for the club in the 1980s and 90s, was reportedly facing bankruptcy in 2023 over an unpaid tax bill exceeding £200,000, as reported by the Mirror.

For now, the petition is a legal filing — not a conclusion. Carragher still has the option to settle the debt or contest the case before any court ruling. What happens next will depend on those proceedings, which have not yet been scheduled publicly.