Rome (AFP)

From Ligt, Lukaku or Balotelli in Serie A thanks to the Italian deputies and senators? By adopting at the end of June, just before the opening of the transfer market, a set of economic stimulus measures called the "growth decree", the parliamentarians indeed gave a real tax boost to the football clubs of the Peninsula.

Because article 5 of this "decreto crescita", initially devoted to the "return of brains" via a favorable tax regime granted to certain categories of qualified professionals, was finally extended to the sports professions.

In fact, this provision allows Italians or foreigners who settle in the Boot after at least two years spent abroad and who commit to stay there for at least two years to benefit, for a maximum of five years, from very advantageous tax conditions.

Indeed, from fiscal year 2020, 50% of their wage income will be exempt from tax, the other half remaining taxed at 43%. Before a last-minute amendment, it was even expected that only 30% of income would be subject to tax.

In the case of footballers, whose salary is systematically negotiated in net, the advantage is quite considerable for clubs and has not gone unnoticed abroad, the Spanish daily El Pais consecrating this summer an article titled " Calcio is a tax haven ".

"This is a measure that can have very concrete effects on the financial balance sheets of clubs and their payroll, a parameter that is increasingly important in terms of financial fair play," said his side said at a conference organized in late July in Milan the lawyer Antonio Longo, a member of the DLA cabinet, quoted by the specialized site Calcio e Finanza.

In the case of Matthijs De Ligt, the young and very talented central Dutch defender recruited this summer by Juventus against 75 million euros, the savings made by the Turin club thanks to the "decreto crescita" would be, according to calculations from DLA, nearly four million euros a year.

With a net salary estimated at eight million euros annually, the "Juve" would have previously had to pay 14 million gross. With the new system, the sum would fall to 10.1 million.

- Flat-tax -

Similarly, the estimated net salary of Diego Godin to Inter, or 6.75 million euros annually, should cost 8.5 million euros to the Milan club, instead of 11.8 million before the entry into force of the decree.

This system of "impatriation" also exists in France, but on a smaller part of the salary and with more stringent conditions. He also recalls the "Beckham Law", which came into force in the early 2000s in Spain and whose Englishman was one of the first beneficiaries when he joined Real Madrid.

The Italian press also judged that this new device had certainly influenced in the return to Serie A of Mario Balotelli, recruited by the modest promoted Brescia, or in the arrivals of Franck Ribery at Fiorentina or Romelu Lukaku at Inter.

The speech is identical for coaches and Inter could benefit from the "growth decree" on the salary of Antonio Conte, back in Italy after two seasons in England. Maurizio Sarri, who joined Juventus after only one year in Chelsea, will not be able to enjoy it.

Only counterpart: the beneficiary undertakes to pay back a "solidarity contribution", ie 0.5% of his taxable salary, which must be used for the development of youth football.

However, this tax benefit can not be combined with another system dating from 2017 and which, according to several Italian media, would benefit Cristiano Ronaldo since his arrival last summer in Italy.

This is a kind of "flat tax" allowing a taxpayer to pay on his income earned abroad (such as sponsorship contracts for example) a flat tax of 100,000 euros annually.

© 2019 AFP