Players in England’s top division receive a large slice of their salaries from so-called “image rights” clauses through the use of videos and photographs in advertisements and merchandise.
For many players, those payments are made to their companies, allowing them to escape a 50% tax rate for high earners. However, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has argued that most players are not well-known enough to benefit from image rights.
It is thought that under the plan being reportedly discussed, teams will pay a percentage of the image rights money at the 50% tax level. The amount owed to the government will be based on clubs’ revenues, with the highest-grossing teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea repaying a lower percentage of the taxes owed because the teams are better known globally.
“HMRC are well aware of attempts to use image rights as well as other schemes to avoid the 50% rate of tax,” said a spokesperson from HMRC. “The taxation of image rights is a complex area where the tax treatment will very much depend on the facts of the particular case.”
