BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt and his wife have avoided bankruptcy after agreeing to pay off a tax bill of around £190,000.
A judge said in a hearing on Monday that Stayt and his wife Anne had owed ‘£191,000-odd’ to HM Revenue & Customs, with around ‘£32,000-odd’ still to be paid.
HMRC filed a bankruptcy petition against the couple, but asked for it to be withdrawn at the hearing at the specialist Insolvency and Companies Court in London.
Solicitor Anam Rezvi said: ‘HMRC would like to seek permission to withdraw today, as the balance has now been reduced and the remaining balance has agreed to be paid by the debtors.’
Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Sebastian Prentis agreed to the petition being withdrawn at the end of the short hearing.
The couple did not attend.
It was claimed HMRC served the couple with the petition in June over his TV and broadcasting firm Stayt Limited.
The company filed accounts in December for the year ending March 2023, which showed they were £6,409 in the red.
Charlie and Annie, who have two children Phoebe and Jake, and live in a four-bedroom home located in Twickenham, London, which is said to be worth £2.3million after they purchased it for £800,000 in 2002, are listed as directors.
The company’s nature of business is television programming and broadcasting activities.
It also lists Central London accountants and tax consultants, Hogbens Dunphy Secretaries, alongside both Annie, 65, and Charlie, 61.
Charlie hosts BBC Breakfast alongside Naga Munchetty, 49, every week from Thursday to Saturday in Manchester having taken over from Dan Walker in 2022.
Originally joining BBC Breakfast in 2006, Charlie previously worked on Five News presenting live debates and bulletins and spent a decade at ITN.
He’s also hosted radio shows including Capital’s news show, The Way It Is, and has reported on both LBC and BBC Radio Five Live.
In June after reports came out about HMRC’s bankruptcy petition, Charlie returned to TV to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, reporting from Normandy.
During his first TV appearance since the reports, body language expert Judi James told Metro.co.uk there was a ‘dramatic change’ in the presenter.
‘Charlie is clearly a consummate professional but the recent pressures do seem to have made a dramatic change to his appearance here,’ she said.
‘His normally boyish look has gone, although given he’s talking about a day of commemoration for D-Day it would obviously be appropriate to take a more sombre approach.’
She noted that certain mannerisms meant he could be stressed.
‘His breathing sounds heavy, which can be a sign of stress or tension and his brows are puckered into a steeple that creates the same shape in his eye area.
‘His forehead looks heavily creased here and his mouth clamp at the end suggests sadness.’
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However, she once again points out this could be in relation to the seriousness of the subject he is reporting on.