The tax advantages provided by the rule changed in 2019 provide savings of up to 50 percent in terms of taxes. There is a lot of talk about this measure, but little is known about it. Let’s try to understand how it works.
What is a Growth Decree and how is it used?
The now famous Growth Decree was approved by the Italian government under the 24bis law in January 2017. Regulates the Consolidated Income Taxes Law. This is a legislation that guarantees tax advantages to those who decide to move their residence from abroad to our country.
The rule also applies to Italians who have spent nine of the last ten years outside Italy and provides for a flat rate of €100,000 on any assets and income accrued from foreign investments during the first fifteen years after their return. Additionally, in 2019, a type of apostille was added to the Decree and its scope was expanded. opportunity to benefit from advantages also to foreigners and Italians who have resided abroad for at least two years.
Effects of the Growth Decree
The update of the decree three years ago allows anyone who transfers their residence to any municipality north of the city of Rome to benefit from a 70% deduction compared to the taxable income base. Share increased to 90 percent If the residence is established south of Rome, an incentive is provided under a series of initiatives designed to aid the economic development of the South.
To avoid exaggerations, the law slightly changed Finding an acceptable environment within the Italian football system. For this reason, football players who come from abroad and move their residence to Italy they can only rely on a 50% rating from their taxable income. According to Irpef calculations, these amount to 50% plus 0.5% left as an additional tax for the development of youth football in Italy.
Simply put, players bought by Italian clubs who have not resided in Italy for at least two years only pay tax on half their wages. As a result, clubs pay less taxes, significant savings on payroll gross, while players can count on significantly higher net salary.
What did this law produce?
It is clear that the governments led first by Gentiloni in 2017 and then by Giuseppe Conte in 2019 did not intend to introduce a law in favor of footballers, but rather imagined this provision as an incentive that would allow footballers to play football. Arriving in the land of professional excellenceas well as stimulating brain reentry.
But the bottom line is this: without incentives, a player earning, say, 10 million a year will cost the club that signs him $15 million: This is not a small difference. But unfortunately, the data tells us how this precaution was taken. did not particularly contribute to lowering wages. The competition between teams to acquire the best players has perhaps played a role in driving up prices, while also creating a truly complex short circuit.
The most annoying effect is that clubs are often more comfortable turning to the cheaper foreign market, thanks to these tax advantages, rather than recruiting players already resident in Italy. The risk is that I All the most valuable Italian football players are going abroadjust as the likelihood of great football players moving from one Italian club to another has decreased significantly.
First of all, an example that contributes very well to understanding how the player trade between Italian clubs consisting of major football players has changed greatly is that of Sergei Milinkovic-Savic. The Serbian midfielder, who was transferred to Lazio in the summer of 2015, was sold by the Arabs Lotito to Saudi Al Hilal for approximately 40 million euros last August. It has been rumored for years that he would be transferred to Juventus, Milan, Inter and all other teams. They focused on foreign profiles due to the Growth DecreeLike Weah, Reijnders, Klaassen.
That’s why negotiations for promising Italian footballers are always much more complicated. Scamacca, Frattesi, Raspadori, talented youngsters who were all sold by Sassuolo, were at the center of long and heated transfer discussions before moving to their new teams. This is clearly a linked dimension due to inevitable calculation differences This is what the clubs that decide to buy the Italian football player should do. So perhaps the government and the Football Association need to think of a new solution.
