Royalty Structures for Latin American Football Players TTN São Paulo – Buenos Aires 8-12 November 2012 Robert W. de Ruijter Summary of Presentation ► Facts & figures ► The world’s most valuable players ► How it is normally done ► Main advantage ► Typical structuring possibilities ► Tax ruling and other related matters ► Locations ► Features of European Royalty Regimes ► Summary Facts & Figures ► Brazilian football players leave Brazil on a yearly basis. ► 2006 – 851; ► 2009 – 1443; ► 2010 – 1674* ► Argentinean Football players leave Argentina on a yearly basis ► 2006 – 1320; ► 2009 – 1800; ► 2010 – 2204* ► Image rights are commonly structured through image rights license agreements; ► Famous football players generally receive image right income from many locations in the world. *Source: Euroamericas Sport Marketing ** Source: Transfer Markt 2012 The world’s 10 most valueable players Market Value Rank Player Country of Origin Club (millions of EUR) 1 Lionel Messi Argentina Barcelona 120 Cristiano 2 Ronaldo Portugal Real Madrid 100 3 Andrés Iniesta Spain Barcelona 70 4 Wayne Rooney England Manchester United 65 5 Cesc Fábregas Spain Barcelona 55 6 Kun Aguëro Argentina Machester City 51 7 Falcao Colombia Atlético de Madrid 50 8 David Silva Spain Machester City 50 9 Hulk Brazil Zenit St. Petersburg 45 10 Robin van Persie The Netherlands Manchester United 43 14 Neymar Brazil Santos 40 Source: Transfer Markt 2012 The world’s 100 most valueable players Number of Market Value Rank Country Players Percentage (millions of EUR) 1 Spain 17 17 605 2 Argentina 11 11 388 3 Brazil 12 12 355 4 Germany 9 9 265 5 England 9 9 246 6 The Netherlands 5 5 155 7 France 5 5 137 8 Portugal 3 3 135 9 Italy 4 4 104 10 Serbia 2 2 60 11 Others 23 23 631 TOTAL 100 100 3.078 Source: Pluri Data, Transfermarket (11/2011) The world´s 100 most valuable players ► Brazil is the 2nd country with more players among the 100 most valuable in the world, with 11 players, in order: Hulk, Thiago Silva, Oscar, Daniel Alves, Ramires, Marcelo, Pato, David Luiz, Willian, Robinho and Kaká. Together they are worth € 355 million, the third highest behind the Argentine; ► Argentina has 11 players among the 100 most valuable in the world, but in market value occupying the 2nd position, with € 388 million. They are: Lionel Messi, Kun Agüero, Ángel di María, Gonzalo Higuaín, Javier Mascherano, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Javier Pastore, Carlos Tévez, Nicolás Gaitán, Lisandro López and Érik Lamela. ► Falcao Garcia (Colombia), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), Antonio Valencia (Ecuador), Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal (Chile) are the other Latin American players on the list. How it is normally done Brazil: ► Clubs prefer to pay part of remuneration in the form of image rights; ► Players typically yield image rights to the clubs; ► Advantage for player: taxation at 16,33% rather than 27,5% ► When playing abroad structure in low tax jurisdiction as fund (tax 15%) ► Agents take 7-10% ► Funds by clubs Argentina : ► Clubs - > part of remuneration in the form of image rights; ► Advantage for player: structuring image rights receipts through licenses; ► Abroad - > structure in low tax jurisdiction as fund Royalty Company - Main Advantage ► Main Advantage: ► Overall reduction of tax costs (withholding taxes) ► Future estate planning and asset protection ► By applying: ► Tax treaties/international tax arrangements (e.g., EC Interest/Royalty Directive) ► Domestic tax system ► Resulting in: ► Low/no withholding tax on royalties to and from Royalty Company ► Low corporate income tax due A Typical Structuring Possibility 1 Scenario 1: Scenario 2: Licensor Royalties IP 0% RWHT Royalties IP Royalty Company IP Royalties 0% RWHT 15% RWHT Licensee A Typical Restructuring Possibility 2 Scenario 1: Scenario 2: Licensor IP Dividends 5%/0% DWHT LuxCo / SpanishCo Income IP Allocation 0% WHT Swiss branch Royalties IP IP (license) Royalties 0% RWHT 15% RWHT Licensee Royalty Company ► Tax ruling: ► currency and bad debt risks ► taxable income (“spread”/arm’s length remuneration) ► validity ► Further related matters: ► withholding tax on royalties ► substance requirements ► withholding tax on dividends Locations for registering IP ► Curaçao ► British Virgin Islands ► Saint Lucia ► Panama ► New Zealand European Royalty Regimes Locations ► Main locations: ► The Netherlands ► Luxembourg ► Switzerland (Swiss branch with Luxembourg/Spanish head office) ► Other European Options: ► Malta ► Cyprus Choosing locations ► Tax treaties ► Taxes on remittances ► Image rights as royalty incomes bilateral agreements ► Low taxation on foreign incomes ► Flexible tax rules Features of European Royalty Regimes 1 Feature NL LUX CH branch Minimum taxable royalty Arm’s length Sliding scale Arm’s length income Substance required? Yes Formally not Yes required (but recommended) Advanced rulings Yes/APA Yes Yes possible? WHT rate royalty 0% Treaty rate N/A Features of European Royalty Regimes 2 Feature NL LUX CH branch Effective tax rate 25% (20% on 5.76% * 12-22% (dep. on €200.000) canton) 8,5% Fed. WHT dividends Treaty/EU P/S Treaty/EU P/S Treaty Intra-group licensing Yes Yes Yes possible Overall tax burden 25% x income 5.76% x income** 12-22% x income *** * Royalties paid to the relevant Luxembourg company may benefit from reduced withholding tax rates if a treaty or EU directive applies ** Not including 0.5% annual net wealth tax *** In case a 80/20 ruling is obtained the overall tax burden can be lowered to approx. 2-3% x gross income . Summary ► Intermediate Royalty Company: ► Tax advantage: ► Overall reduction of tax costs (withholding taxes on royalties) ► Non-tax advantages ► (e.g., centralization of investments and finance activities) Contact details The Corpag Group Anguilla, Barbados, Brazil (São Paulo and Curitiba), Buenos Aires (soon to be opened) the British Virgin Islands, Curacao (formerly the Netherlands Antilles), Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Miami (representative. office), the Netherlands, Nevis, New Zealand, Panama, St. Lucia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. www.corpag.com www.drassetplanning.com.br For more information please contact [email protected] / [email protected] Tel.+55 41 3233 6091.