British Tennis Officials Working With Tax Officials to Change Tax Law
Talks are moving ahead between British sporting officials, including Ian Ritchie of the All England Club and Roger Draper of the Lawn Tennis Association, and the representatives of nation’s government in a bid to alleviate the tax issues that are causing foreign player not to contest traditional events.
Most prominently Rafael Nadal has said the major reason he is not playing the AEGON Championships at London’s Queen’s Club, the biggest grass court event in the build-up to Wimbledon, is the earnings he will lose in tax to the British treasury.
Similarly ongoing Barclays ATP World Tour Finals could also leave its’ London home at the 02 Arena when the contract ends in 2013 unless British tax laws are altered.
“We’re taking this very seriously,” said Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) chief executive Roger Draper. “One of our priorities is to retain this event and tackle the player-tax issue.”
Draper, admitted he hopes to find out whether tennis has earned an exemption when Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, reveals his next Budget in March, 2012.
United Kingdom tax rules state that in addition to tax paid on prize money and appearance fees, visiting athletes have to hand over a percentage of their global endorsement income, with the amount proportional to the time they spend in the country. Therefore the likes of Nadal actually lose money be playing Queen’s.
However Draper is insistent the reason he is lobbying so strenuously is not primarily to earn the likes of Nadal a tax break, more to ensure budding British players get a chance to see their idols first hand and so become even more committed to their sport.
Draper revealed: “We’re busy having high-level discussions. I have written to the chancellor and got a letter back from him explaining the things he was going to do. We also had the Prime Minister at the National Tennis Centre for three hours the other week.
“So the most senior people in Government are taking this seriously because they can see the economic impact. They’ve made a commitment to us that they’re going to look into this. There is sympathy there, we’re hopeful but the Government has got a lot of things of its plate at the moment.”
Reports this week have suggested both Rio de Janeiro and Newark, New Jersey are interested in becoming the next hosts of the event and Draper said: “We haven’t had formal talks with the ATP about extending the contract as yet. But our intention is to sit down during the course of 2012 to have those discussions.
“Clearly the player-tax issue has got in the way of some of those discussions – what we want to do when we sit down with the ATP is have that issue out of the way.
“We’ve got lots of things in our favor but we’re not standing still because there are a lot of countries in the world that are beginning to get their act together – like Brazil, China, India and so on – and are making statements in terms of major events.”
“DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”
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