Today’s superstar athletes are powerful corporate brands, and they and their teams are looking for creative ways to reduce personal and corporate taxation. UK soccer clubs are compensating players and some coaches under a tax scheme that has some wondering if teams, players and coaches are effectively engaging in tax evasion.
In any tax system, a high level of certainty is required for both ease of tax administration and the efficient collection of tax liabilities. Likewise, for companies and their stakeholders, domestic and international tax-related certainty is a fundamental goal. The UK’s EU referendum and potential exit from the European Union represent serious threats to this desired stability. And the biggest challenge businesses will face from a potential “Brexit” will be negotiating the resulting uncertainty.
The European Union's expected rulings that Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler got illegal tax breaks might be just the start of a crackdown, with bigger battles against Apple and Amazon on the way.
The European Union said it will require Starbucks Corp. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to pay tens of millions of euros in back taxes after ruling that tax deals they negotiated with two European governments were illegal, in an unprecedented decision by regulators that risks blowing open thousands of corporate tax structures across Europe.