By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The struggle that Barcelona’s star players have with paying their taxes has continued with Neymar being the latest to fall foul of the authorities with a Brazilian judge freezing 188.8m reais ($47.6 million) of his assets in a tax evasion case.
Already Lionel Messi has fallen foul of Spanish tax authorities Messi is facing trial on charges that, between 2007 and 2009, he benefitted from a complex network of companies set up by his father to keep €4.1 million in taxes from the Spanish authorities.
Neymar is alleged to have not paid 63.3m reais in taxes between 2011 and 2013. Neymar transferred from Santos in Brazil to Barcelona in 2013, a move which itself has been the subject of controversy and legal threats and wrangling over the payments made to owners of his third party ownership contracts.
Neymar’s parents claim that over the Brazilian claim he has done nothing wrong and that he “cannot declare what is not his”, saying that he is not a owner of the firms that held the rights.
Brazilian judge Judge Carlos Muta claims that his family were part-owners of the firms and accused the 23-year-old of “omitting sources of income from abroad”. Barcelona FC was cited as the source of unreported money.
Neymar’s parents said the decision was based on an “incorrect understanding” of their son’s income.
In a joint statement Neymar da Silva Santos and Nadine Goncalves da Silva Santos, said: “Neymar Jr did not avoid paying taxes, and neither did any of our companies…We have done our duty and we are confident that everything will be cleared up in due time.”
Neymar’s, now injured, teammate Messi, is waiting to stand trial with his father in Spain and potentially faces jail, though this is an unlikely outcome. What is more likely is a suspended sentence and/or a fine of up to £25 million – is more likely if found guilty.
News has also emerged that Bayern Munich player Xabi Alonso is being investigated for defrauding the Spanish tax authorities. Allegedly, Alonso failed to declare revenue from his image rights by ceding those rights to companies outside of Spain in tax havens or states with lower tax rates.
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