The Supreme Court established that international transfers of players from a foreign football club to a Spanish one are taxed in our country.
The Controversial-Administrative Chamber dismissed Santos’ appeal against the decision of the National Court that approved the liquidation of the Treasury in the Brazilian club, of 2.7 million euros for Income Tax of non-residents for the years 2013 and 2015, obtained from the capital gain obtained in the transfer of Neymar’s federative rights to Fútbol Club Barcelona.
In its decision, the Chamber determined that “the economic rights derived from the transmission of the federation rights of a player received by a club or a sports entity not resident in Spain for the transfer of that player to a club or sports entity resident in Spain generates a capital gain subject to non-resident income tax.”
The court points out that there is no doubt about the existence of a transferable right, the “federation rights”, which have an economic content and whose transmission refers to a capital gain.
It added that the destination club, for the player’s registration with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), must provide, among other things, an international transfer certificate when the player provides services for a club in another country.
That “affirms the consideration that the rights are transferred between clubs and the payment made by the destination Spanish club corresponds to the payment of a right available in Spain that until then belonged to the foreign club that origin.”
Therefore, he understands that the conclusion “cannot be other than to consider that the appellant club is the owner of certain rights of economic content, called federation rights, which refers to Neymar, which constitutes his assets and that by contract of May 31, 2013, he transferred them to Barcelona in exchange for a price”, that is, that they constitute a capital gain.
In this regard, the Court defends that this gain should be taxed in Spain because the rights transferred will be used by the club in Spain, which will form part of its assets.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
