English Premier League clubs evaded paying up to 250 million pounds (284 million euros) in taxes between 2019 and 2021, according to a report by the Tax Policy Associates (TPA) firm. The study ensures that the practice was carried out on an "industrial scale", through a system that "artificially structures" the payments made by the clubs to the players' agents. Since 2015, TPA estimates that Premier League clubs have evaded payment of up to 470 million pounds (534 million euros).
After the publication of the report, the United Kingdom Treasury has confirmed that it is investigating a "number of teams" and although it has not offered details, the British media assure that Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, among others, have benefited in recent years of this fiscal practice.
"The purpose of this scheme is to dodge employment taxes and VAT levied on the large commissions paid to soccer agents. In reality, these agents work for the players. But the system creates artificial contracts in which the agent acts for both the club and the player, in so-called 'dual representation contracts'," Tax Policy Associates explains in the report.
According to the firm, the clubs pay "later half of the fees", despite the fact that it is the players who "really benefit from all (or almost all) of the agent's work", and these bonuses, it stresses, "avoid payment of income tax, social security and VAT".
Experts maintain that if it is only the player who assumes the payments from his agent, the Treasury would receive around 60% of the total in taxes, although that amount is reduced by half when the bill is divided between the club and the footballer through the aforementioned "dual representation contract".
TPA estimates that this practice has brought tax savings to players, agents and clubs of 81 million pounds (92 million) in 2019, 91 million (103) in 2020 and 81 million (92) in 2021, to exceed 250 million pounds (284) in three years.
The figures for the main clubs in 2021, according to the firm, stand at 10.9 million pounds (12.3) for Manchester City, 10 million (11) for Manchester United, 8.1 million (9, 2) for Liverpool, while the highest saving was recorded by Chelsea in 2020, with 12.8 million pounds (13.6).
The BBC recalls that the Treasury issued an order in 2021 to force the clubs to specify that the agents work legitimately for both parties, in order to prevent the fees from being divided 50% between the entity and the players and the contract reflects the true nature of the representation.
A spokesperson for the Treasury explained to that medium that "it cannot be assumed" that it is "a tax evasion scheme" since its use can "comply" with tax regulations. "However, we carefully scrutinize agreements between clubs and employees, and we work closely with the football industry to educate and address tax risk," the source explains.
