Barcelona Was Sentenced To Pay 23 Million Euros!

A Spanish court ordered Barcelona Football Club to pay about 23 million euros in tax settlements on amounts paid to the club's player agents between 2012 and 2015, while the Catalan club appealed the decision. The Administrative Disputes Chamber of the National Court, the main criminal body in Spain, confirmed the June 2020 ruling of the Central Economic and Administrative Court that Barcelona appealed, the body noted in its letter. The Economic Court had ordered Barcelona to pay about 23 million euros in tax settlements, on individuals and amounts paid to players’ agents. The court considered that since these agents “provide their services to football players and not to the club, (these amounts) have the character of professional income and are subject to deduction at the time of payment.” For its part, Barcelona considered that these payments “are consistent with the rewards agreed upon in exchange for the services provided to the sports entity, and in this sense, it is not possible to grant the amounts that correspond to the services provided to the club as rewards to the players.” But according to the Spanish court, “part of the bonus is paid to the players and must therefore be subject to the relevant taxes.” The Catalan club decided to appeal the chamber’s ruling before the Supreme Court, stressing that “this decision does not oblige the club to pay (the fine) at the present time.” He explained that the amount "was saved in the accounts."