A Spanish court ordered football club Barcelona to pay 23 million euros in tax corrections on sums paid to players’ agents between 2012 and 2015.
The Council for Administrative Disputes of the National Court confirmed the judgment of the Central Economic and Administrative Court (TEAC) issued in June 2020, against which the Catalan club had already filed an appeal.
The TEAC ruled that the agents “provide services to the footballers, not the club, and that these amounts have the character of employment income and are subject to taxation at the time of payment”.
Barcelona, for its part, believes that these payments “correspond to the remuneration contracted for their services provided to the sports entity and in this sense cannot be attributed as remuneration to the players”.
But, according to the Spanish court, “part of the fee is paid to the players and therefore must be subject to the relevant tax”.