Joey Essex has reportedly been slapped with a near £300,000 tax bill just weeks after landing back in the UK with girlfriend Jessy Potts following his stint on Love Island.
The TOWIE star, 33, also has to return a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan, according to The Sun.
In July, the TV personality was believed to have potentially faced a court battle when his performing arts firm, Joey Essex Management, was given a winding up petition.
A winding-up petition is a legal document filed by a creditor with the court to force a company into liquidation and close it down.
After finding love in the villa with Jessy, Joey claimed he would voluntarily close the company but he reportedly now has a lineup of huge tax bills.
Joey Essex has been slapped with a near £300,000 tax bill, according to The Sun
The TOWIE star, 33, also reportedly has to return a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan just weeks after landing back in the UK with girlfriend Jessy Potts following his stint on Love Island
Joey reportedly has to pay £259,000 for a corporation tax bill and £30,900 in VAT.
He also has to pay £30,000 for a Covid Bounce Back Loan, according to the publication.
The loan was given to struggling business owners by the government to help them during the pandemic.
Joey is also said to owe £11,250 to unnamed trade creditors.
He is reportedly returning a £780,000 loan from the company which means the company which indicates he will have money to cover the tax bills.
Joey has had to sign a Declaration of Solvency document stating: “I have formed the opinion that this company will be able to pay its debts in full together with interest at the official rate within 12 months.”
Accounts for the firm were several years behind and his three other active companies are JDE Property Limited, Fusey Productions Limited and The Top TT Limited, which he set up in 2023 and is yet to file accounts.
A representative for Joey was approached by MailOnline for a comment.
In July, the TV personality was believed to have potentially faced a court battle when his performing arts firm, Joey Essex Management, was given a winding up petition
After finding love in the villa with Jessy, Joey claimed he would voluntarily close the company but he reportedly now has a lineup of huge tax bills
Joey reportedly has to pay £259,000 for a corporation tax bill and £30,900 in VAT. He also has to pay £30,000 for a Covid Bounce Back Loan, according to the publication
Joey is also said to owe £11,250 to unnamed trade creditors. He is reportedly returning a £780,000 loan from the company which means the company which indicates he will have money to cover the tax bills
The unearthing of his tax bill comes comes after Joey and Jessy, 25, were accused of faking their romance following their stint in the Love Island villa, despite claiming the romance was the 'real deal'.
After missing out on a spot in the ITV2 final and voted 'least compatible' the pair returned to the UK and have busy attending numerous events separately.
While Joey has been raking in a reported £250,000 on a club tour, Jessy has been partying with pals and attending movie premieres.
The couple have appeared together for TV and magazine interviews, where Joey hinted at them starting a family, but have not made an appearance on each other's Instagram grids.
The TV star caused a stir when he entered the villa as the first celebrity contestant.
Despite being labelled as the 'pantomime villain' and well known for his bachelor antics, he later claimed to have settled down with 'exclusive girlfriend' Jessy.
Joey claims the pair have already started thinking about their future despite not the 'L' word to each other yet.
Telling OK! Magazine: 'We've already spoken about kids.'
'We both want a big family. But we're having a bit of a tiff at the moment. She wants four, I want eight.
'Imagine how great that would be? I'm ready. I'd do it tomorrow. Maybe even tonight!'.
The unearthing of his tax bill comes comes after Joey and Jessy were accused of faking their romance following their stint in the Love Island villa , despite claiming the romance was the 'real deal'
After being asked if they've said the 'love' word to each other yet. Jessy said, 'We don't want to rush things.'
Despite the criticism, Joey said he wanted people to focus on him and his new flame as a couple and ignore all the noise around them, insisting he was 'genuine' during his time in the villa.
He added neither of them had played any games and neither could see any red flags despite 'testing each other'.
He said: 'We took our time, had fun and enjoyed each other's company. We weren't jumping to make decisions because the next bombshell was coming in, or because it was Casa Amor, we did things our way. We played it correctly. We weren't in it to win it. We just wanted to be together.'
