Lionel
Messi, the Barcelona star footballer and his father are accused of
scamming $5.3 million in taxes from Spanish authorities. Along with his
father, Jorge Horacio Messi, the high income player is accused of
fraudulent tax returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009.
It’s clear this won’t be a simple case. A judge must accept the prosecutor’s lawsuit before any charges could be brought.
This
is bad press for the World Star player but centers on companies and
endorsement deals. Tax advisers can be expected to contend that this is
no more than tax planning, not unlike aggressive football play.
According
to Forbes, Messi earns $41.3 million per year, making him the 10th
highest-paid athlete in the world. But not all of it is for actual play.
He
is said to collect $21 million from endorsement deals, including
Adidas. He makes about $20 million from Barcelona. Only David Beckham
and Cristiano Ronaldo had higher earnings from soccer. In a statement
released via his Facebook page, Messi said:
“We
have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish
tax authorities. We are surprised about the news, because we have never
committed any infringement. We have always fulfilled all our tax
obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants who will take
care of clarifying this situation.”
Messi’s
contract is understood to pay €11 million (£8.5 million) a year net.
But the issue is beyond salary. Barcelona’s El Periodico newspaper says
it involves commercial revenues from the Spanish authorities from 2006
through 2009 by directing the income to companies in tax havens. Much
remains unclear, but if the reports are to be believed, the image and
license deals are assigned to companies domiciled in tax havens.
No comments:
Post a Comment