Footballer tax fraud

[dor]

Lionel Messi and father Jorge were last year convicted of defrauding the Spanish state of €4.1m (£3.6m; $4.6m) in unpaid taxes on the striker's image rights, controlled by offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay.

The pair were both handed 21-month jail terms in a ruling recently confirmed by Spain's supreme court.



what could be done?

 

[bilderberger]

Are you proposing a jail break?

or do you mean, what could they have done differently to avoid their problem?

 

[dor]

yes

 

[bilderberger]

Ok. We could blow the bladdy doors off and get them away on mopeds. I mean, motorcycles.

 

[dor]

I mean how come he got busted? He did by the book
what should be done differently or it does not matter, once Spanish inquisition wants your milk you are doomed?

 

[bilderberger]

My guess would be that image rights are a substantial part of any celebrity income. Likely those earnings were conspicuous in their absence so the authorities went looking for them. It’s not hard to hunt down an advertiser using their image and subpoena them to reveal their contract and payment trail.

in this case, those sort of earnings are impossible to camouflage. You can’t construct substance for image rights in a different jurisdiction, since it’s done by the person, you can’t fake a team of people doing work for this like you possibly can for other disciplines.

so it sounds like a fair cop. They got bad tax advice.

 

[GiGoGo]

They are Spain residents, with Spanish company salary, but they wanted to place the image rights royalties offshore.
Hard to escape from Hacienda since CRS and AEOI.

It seems that Xavi Alonso was absolved because he used a company in Madeira (EU Territory) with a Nominee that actually did an effective work.

 

[dor]

so what should be done properly?
firstly should be non Spanish residents? Andorra perhaps?
spend less than 183 days in sPain?

 

[pippo]

Hmm, besides substance you'd definitely need to give it the appearance of legality.

Messi could have SOLD his image rights to the offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay for a reasonable sum, and pay Spanish taxes on it. The contract may state, for example, that Messi gets XXX € in advance plus a yearly allowance.

With the appearance of legality and some substance in Belize and Uruguay, you may have a decent setup, and even Spanish Inquisition may have a very hard time to demonstrate that you are committing tax fraud.

"Mr Judge, I needed some money very fast, and those Belize Thugs screwed me. Now I'm their slave until the end of my life: they get all the money and I get the breadcrumbs". It's their job to prove that the same person is also behind the Belize offshore company, and if you do things properly that's not so simple.

As @Tax Cow often reminds us, you must pay some taxes somewhere, or be ready to face the consequences...

 

[dor]

you gotta give them jackals some bone.... so belize company is owned by cook islands trust? but still spanish inquisition would see ultimate beneficial owner through crs... how to hide?