The Football Thread 2017-18

[shadow202]

It really frustrates me when I read stories of players tax dodging, I mean come on how selfish do you honestly have to be to have more money than you know what to do with and still avoid paying your taxes like strawberry float off you super banana splits. This is for a players who tax dodge not just Ronaldo.

[Denster]

[Preezy]

I think it's naive to think that footballers handle their own finances and have any clue what their advisers and representatives are doing with their money. Let's not forget most footballers aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.

That's not to excuse them, but it's a factor to consider.

[shadow202]

I know they'll have accountants or at the very least the club's will who will look after the majority of their finances but your financial burden still lands with you and you should at the very least be checking to make sure your house is in order.

[sawyerpip]

Ronaldo will be paying over £160,000 tax a week just based on his actual salary, not even considering all his sponsorship deals etc. While I don't agree with it, I can understand why he might feel that he's paying his share and would be tempted if one of his advisers said let's do X, Y and Z to save millions a year. I doubt Ronaldo is going to look into the intricacies of his financial setup himself.

[shadow202]

If your tax bill a week is £160k then your income is relative to that and hence why the large tax payment. It's not like he's earning £200k a week and expected to pay out £160k of it. It's the same when Mascherano (don't think that is spelt correctly) and Messi were caught also, it's a joke and even if you don't keep a close eye on your overall financial portfolio well that is not a excuse, you should as I say make sure your house ( financially speaking) is in order regardless of income and stature in the world.

[bear]

How many rich people in the UK got caught up in that scheme where they invested in movies to reduce their tax burden (Eclipse 35) ? Sven Goran Erikson may have been the most high profile name mentioned but the vast majority are supposed to have been highly paid executives working in London so it's not like these schemes/scams only lure in dopey celebs who don't understand how taxation works.


Unless Real were the ones who explicitly told Ronaldo and his advisers to invest in this failed attempt at tax avoidance ( I think avoidance is legally ok, tax dodging isn't but I may have that arseways) then I don't see how they could be expected to foot the bill.

[sawyerpip]

Yes tax bills are proportionate based on earnings, but I think that paying 45% on hundreds of thousands of pounds a week is a situation that we probably find it hard to compare with. Again, I think the tax system is fair and Ronaldo (and others) should be paying what they owe, but when you're talking about those sums of money then you can at least understand the temptation.

[sawyerpip]

Unless Real were the ones who explicitly told Ronaldo and his advisers to invest in this failed attempt at tax avoidance ( I think avoidance is legally ok, tax dodging isn't but I may have that arseways) then I don't see how they could be expected to foot the bill.

Yes tax avoidance isn't illegal as the schemes strictly operate within the letter of the law, it's just they exploit loopholes for unintended consequences. They can be illegal in certain circumstances as you may need to declare you are using the scheme etc.

If Madrid foot the bill then Ronaldo would have to pay a further 45% tax on that amount

[shadow202]

How does moving away just solve this issue? Surely he still owes the money regardless of location

[BOR]

Portugal vs Mexico at 4pm on itv, then Cameroon vs Chile at 7pm on itv4 today.

[Poncho]

Hasselbaink hopes Ronaldo stays at Madrid because it's rare for a player to have played for just one or two clubs in their entire career. How much are they paying him for this?

[Benzin]

That's not even right either

[Photek]

Video refereeing working great there.

[BOR]

VAR!

It's ridiculous!!!

[KK]

They'd be better off with VR at this rate.

[Irene Demova]

It was the right call you tits

[darksideby182]

And again.

[Saint of Killers]

Sepp Blatter after the fall: ‘Why the hell should I bear all the blame?’

David Conn has spent years writing about corruption at Fifa. When he was granted an audience with its deposed president over lunch in Zurich, he found there was more to the man than the arch-villain of popular caricature

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... orruption-

Not gonna read it now, but this caught my eye:

He is not impressed with whistleblowers in general, even criticising Yuliya Stepanova, who had recently exposed the Russian state doping of athletes, the great scandal breaking over athletics. “She wants to go to the Olympics, and now everybody says it is a shame she can’t go because she is a whistleblower. Before long whistleblowers will be allowed to go to everything,” he sneered. “Because if you are a whistleblower, it’s not correct as well.”

Startled by that statement, I asked him to clarify; was he saying whistleblowers are not correct?

“No,” he confirmed. “At school, if you had somebody who was a whistleblower towards the tutor, then ...” and he trailed off, as if it was obvious.

“Do you still think that?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“That they are like a snitch in school?”

“Yes, yes,” he said.

/ Cry harder.

[Peter Crisp]

I think it's naive to think that footballers handle their own finances and have any clue what their advisers and representatives are doing with their money. Let's not forget most footballers aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.

That's not to excuse them, but it's a factor to consider.

Yep, while I'm all for being hard on tax dodgers I think most people just go to an expert and say "handle my tax for me please" and that's about as complex as that goes for them as that's why they pay them money for a service.
I've never had to deal with tax as it's all automatic so I have no idea how complicated it is so I find it hard to judge people other than being angry.