Crisis-club Portsmouth have denied being formally served with a winding-up petition, but have admitted to being in dispute with HM Revenue & Customs.
Earlier on Wednesday it was reported that the Premier League's bottom club had been served with the petition on December 23.
It was believed that a full court hearing would not take place until February but that the latest course of action could lead to the south coast outfit being declared bankrupt.
However, the Fratton Park club have denied being formally served, but have confirmed that they are in dispute with HMRC
"Portsmouth Football Club has not been formally served with a winding up petition and is shocked and surprised this action has been taken in respect of VAT, PAYE and National Insurance Contributions which either have been, or are about to be paid, or are disputed," read a club statement.
"The club is disputing the VAT amount outstanding and has formally notified HMRC of this. We expect HMRC to withdraw their demands forthwith.
"Otherwise we anticipate a hearing being held in early January 2010 during which we will request that the High Court order HMRC to withdraw their demands."
The south coast club have been late paying their staff their wages twice in the last few months and have been taken over twice since the summer.
However, the statement also claims that their financial position has improved considerably following Ali Al Faraj's latest takeover in October.
"To date the new owner has injected a total of 9.7million of new funds to HMRC - 5.7million paid and security to the value of 4illion," continued the statement.
"In such a tough economic environment the club finds it hard to understand this action by HMRC.
"It is well known that the business has been in a difficult position following former owners' decisions and the current owner is committed to resolving this and moving forward."
Source: DSG
