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How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa

ABSTRACT In a document entitled Guide on the Taxation of Professional Sports Clubs and Players, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) states that it is unlikely that professional soccer clubs could be said to trade in player contracts, and accordingly, player transfers are unlikely to constitut...

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Main Author: Nqiwa, Fezile
Other Authors: Titus, Afton
Format: Thesis
Language:Eng
Published: Department of Commercial Law 2024
Subjects:
Law
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access_status_str Open Access
author Nqiwa, Fezile
author2 Titus, Afton
author_browse Nqiwa, Fezile
Titus, Afton
author_facet Titus, Afton
Nqiwa, Fezile
author_sort Nqiwa, Fezile
collection Thesis
description ABSTRACT In a document entitled Guide on the Taxation of Professional Sports Clubs and Players, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) states that it is unlikely that professional soccer clubs could be said to trade in player contracts, and accordingly, player transfers are unlikely to constitute revenue receipts or expenditure as anticipated by the Income Tax Act. The author critically evaluates SARS's assertion by applying the applicable football regulations and well-established South African common-law tax principles to practical scenarios premised upon common player transfer methods, which include combinations of permanent player transfers, temporary player transfers, free player transfers, a bridge player transfer, a buy-out player transfer and buy-back player transfers. The key outcomes and recommendations from this paper are that: I. the commercialisation of football has influenced a change in the player transfer market – clubs are increasingly engaging in speculative player transfer practices. Accordingly, SARS should acknowledge these developments and publish a guideline dedicated to the tax treatment player transfers. II. the Income Tax Act should be amended to include a limited tax exemption on training compensation received by clubs who train young players to become professionals, as the development of young players is social good which should be encouraged and rewarded.
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language Eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
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publisher Department of Commercial Law
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39780 How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa Nqiwa, Fezile Titus, Afton Law ABSTRACT In a document entitled Guide on the Taxation of Professional Sports Clubs and Players, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) states that it is unlikely that professional soccer clubs could be said to trade in player contracts, and accordingly, player transfers are unlikely to constitute revenue receipts or expenditure as anticipated by the Income Tax Act. The author critically evaluates SARS's assertion by applying the applicable football regulations and well-established South African common-law tax principles to practical scenarios premised upon common player transfer methods, which include combinations of permanent player transfers, temporary player transfers, free player transfers, a bridge player transfer, a buy-out player transfer and buy-back player transfers. The key outcomes and recommendations from this paper are that: I. the commercialisation of football has influenced a change in the player transfer market – clubs are increasingly engaging in speculative player transfer practices. Accordingly, SARS should acknowledge these developments and publish a guideline dedicated to the tax treatment player transfers. II. the Income Tax Act should be amended to include a limited tax exemption on training compensation received by clubs who train young players to become professionals, as the development of young players is social good which should be encouraged and rewarded. 2024-05-31T09:36:24Z 2024-05-31T09:36:24Z 2023 2024-05-31T06:41:26Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39780 Eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle Law
Nqiwa, Fezile
How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
title_full How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
title_fullStr How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
title_short How are professional football player transfers taxed in South Africa
title_sort how are professional football player transfers taxed in south africa
topic Law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39780
work_keys_str_mv AT nqiwafezile howareprofessionalfootballplayertransferstaxedinsouthafrica