N'Golo Kanté refused an offshore assembly and paid a portion of his income to Jersey. The French international does not want to take any chances with this kind of practice.
" N'Golo is inflexible: he just wants a normal salary ". After his transfer to Chelsea, the French midfielder N'Golo Kanté refused an offshore assembly and the payment of a portion of his income in Jersey, reveals Mediapart in the framework of Football Leaks.
" After reading numerous press articles on image rights and tax investigations against players and clubs, N'Golo is increasingly concerned that the editing that was proposed to him could to be questioned by the tax authorities N'Golo decided that he did not want to take any risk, "said Kanté's tax adviser on May 11, 2017 in an email sent to Chelsea executives.
Jersey, tax haven
In June 2016, six weeks before his transfer from Leicester to Chelsea, a company called NK Promotions had yet been registered in Jersey, a tax haven, according to Football Leaks. The proposed set-up, which Mediapart does not know if the idea comes from Chelsea or relatives of Kanté, would have been to pay 10% of the player's income in the form of image rights abroad, to circumvent the tax .
In total, it is 20% of the player's income that should be paid in the form of image rights, or 1.4 million euros per year: half in a British company NK Sports, with lower taxes only for a conventional salary, and the other in Jersey, without tax. At first, Kanté's lawyer suggests that his client " will approve " this montage. But things are dragging on and Chelsea's leaders are getting impatient.
Finally, in May 2017, the player's tax adviser indicates that his client refuses this offshore installation. And it will be until February 5, 2018, a year and a half after his arrival at the club, for a final agreement to be found. Kanté " agrees to receive 20% of his salary in image rights (twice as taxed as wages), but via his UK company NK Sports, which will pay corporate tax in the UK, "writes Mediapart.
A story that does not risk to lower the popularity rating of the world champion, who is already a "darling" of the French public.