Image rights of athletes
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 4:10 am
One of the most controversial and polemical issues in terms of taxation is the taxation of sportsmen's image rights and their exploitation through companies. We are aware of multiple cases of tax fraud by sportsmen, such as the case of Messi, Di María, Mascherano, Falcao, Carvalho, Coentrao, Xabi Alonso and recently Cristiano Ronaldo.
First of all, we need to know what image rights are in order to understand the type of fraud that is committed with these rights in the sports world in general, and in the world of football in particular.
The right to one's own image is a fundamental right included in article 18.1 of the Constitution and is developed in Organic Law 1/1982 , of May 5, on civil protection of the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one's own image.
It is a right of personality, derived from human dignity and aimed at protecting sri lanka mobile number list the moral dimension of people. It is a personal and inalienable right, and can be transferred to third parties (having a patrimonial character on an intangible asset). It can only be attributed to natural persons. Legal persons do not have the right to their own image due to the highly personal nature of this right.
Article 18.1 CE . 1. The right to honor, personal and family privacy and one's own image is guaranteed .
Fundamental rights have two aspects. The Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court have recognised the two sides of the right to one's own image:
Negative aspect: it is characterized by the right to privacy and the exclusion and interference of third parties. The image enjoys civil protection. Right to prohibit the obtaining or reproduction and publication of one's own image by a third party who lacks the consent of the owner to do so, there being a right to prevent the reproduction of one's own image.
Positive aspect: right to commercially exploit the image. Right to obtain, reproduce and publish one's own image and authorize third parties to do so.
An athlete's image or personal brand cannot be freely used. Every time they are reproduced for commercial purposes, the athletes themselves, their teams or even the institutions charge for the rights they have over them.
The problem lies in the phase of assessing the benefits obtained by any person, in this case footballers, for the exploitation of their image or as compensation for consent to its exploitation. The remuneration received by the footballer for the transfer of his rights and the nature of the company that manages them are questioned.
Taxation of image rights
The debate is centered on whether these earnings should be considered as salaries or as commercial remuneration.
There is no unanimous answer, but most doctrine understands that these returns are classified as salary , and the excuse of receiving them through companies is not valid because this hides/tends to tax evasion.
First of all, we need to know what image rights are in order to understand the type of fraud that is committed with these rights in the sports world in general, and in the world of football in particular.
The right to one's own image is a fundamental right included in article 18.1 of the Constitution and is developed in Organic Law 1/1982 , of May 5, on civil protection of the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one's own image.
It is a right of personality, derived from human dignity and aimed at protecting sri lanka mobile number list the moral dimension of people. It is a personal and inalienable right, and can be transferred to third parties (having a patrimonial character on an intangible asset). It can only be attributed to natural persons. Legal persons do not have the right to their own image due to the highly personal nature of this right.
Article 18.1 CE . 1. The right to honor, personal and family privacy and one's own image is guaranteed .
Fundamental rights have two aspects. The Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court have recognised the two sides of the right to one's own image:
Negative aspect: it is characterized by the right to privacy and the exclusion and interference of third parties. The image enjoys civil protection. Right to prohibit the obtaining or reproduction and publication of one's own image by a third party who lacks the consent of the owner to do so, there being a right to prevent the reproduction of one's own image.
Positive aspect: right to commercially exploit the image. Right to obtain, reproduce and publish one's own image and authorize third parties to do so.
An athlete's image or personal brand cannot be freely used. Every time they are reproduced for commercial purposes, the athletes themselves, their teams or even the institutions charge for the rights they have over them.
The problem lies in the phase of assessing the benefits obtained by any person, in this case footballers, for the exploitation of their image or as compensation for consent to its exploitation. The remuneration received by the footballer for the transfer of his rights and the nature of the company that manages them are questioned.
Taxation of image rights
The debate is centered on whether these earnings should be considered as salaries or as commercial remuneration.
There is no unanimous answer, but most doctrine understands that these returns are classified as salary , and the excuse of receiving them through companies is not valid because this hides/tends to tax evasion.