Why are soccer stars allergic to paying tax?

Europe has best soccer stars who are lured with lucrative transfer deals all around the world.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar all ply their trade in the La Liga league.

Money means nothing to these football stars because they are paid extremely well. Ronaldo goes home with millions a year. He has endorsements from Nike, plus a number of other deals and businesses which generates more money for him. He can walk into any shop in the world and walk out with whatever tickles his fancy.

However, these high income earners are often purged by the taxmen for alleged non-payment of income tax. One is not sure whether they are evading or avoiding paying tax.

Because of this, Spain's tax agency has intensified its control over soccer players and their companies, checking to see if they are mere fronts or whether they are indeed earning income from other economic projects.

Recently, the 32-year-old Ronaldo was caught in the nets of the taxman and charged with four counts of tax fraud and other financial crimes by the Spanish courts.

But how does a wealthy soccer player forget to appoint accountants to make sure his money is managed well? Or are there barriers in communication? But before I get there, let's look at other players like Messi.

Messi was last year convicted of defrauding the Spanish state of close to N$6 million in unpaid taxes on his image rights.

Messi pleaded ignorance and argued that his father was the only person who knew how his money was being managed and he knew nothing.

Is his father an accountant?

Next: Neymar – also denied any wrongdoing and told the court investigating his case that his father and associates dealt with off-field business matters. Again – do these stars earn so much that they have no time to check if their finances and tax remittance is in order?

Don't they receive correspondence about outstanding bills and income tax that needs to be settled?

Perhaps they trust their family members so much with their money and forget to ask to see the paperwork.

The question one needs to ask now is if these players will face jail time. According to Spain's unwritten two-year-sentence rule, even if they are found guilty, Messi and Neymar will be spared from serving prison terms.

But it's a different case with Ronaldo. Three of the four tax fraud charges are considered by prosecutors to be 'aggravated', so they carry a minimum sentence of two years each. Four guilty verdicts and he could face as much as seven years in jail.

A Spanish investigator says the company owned by Ronaldo, is a smoke “screen” and that he has no economic activity apart from having bought and then ceded the player's image rights to a firm based in Ireland that “genuinely manages” his image sales.

Prosecutors also claim that money earned from image rights was incorrectly described as capital gains, to benefit from a lower tax rate.

Now back to my question as to how players evade paying tax. I am sure whoever manages their accounts does so according to the stars instructions. But, how come he knows nothing when things turn sour?

The player is now in trouble because of what I believe are sinister dealings. However, an investigating judge needs to ratify the prosecutors' accusations against him, and that could take many months or even years.

This gives him time to plead, pay taxes and fines in advance and reduce any eventual jail term by half or quarter of the statutory minimum. That way he would slip under the standard two-year bar for first offenders and therefore his sentence suspended.

I know Namibian soccer players do not worry about paying tax, but for those playing in the South African premier league, I urge you to read the books, know how your money is managed, ask questions and don't evade paying tax. The law surely has long arms and those arms will fish you whether you are Ronaldo, or not.



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