All this "Europe is tax-free" talk is extremely misleading

Johnny Kilroy · Post #1 » by **Johnny Kilroy** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:53 am

the fact that many euroleague teams pay their players' taxes is not relevant when it comes to americans.

you see, when euros come to the nba they are required to pay taxes to the american government. america taxes people based on three things, residency, citizenship and the source of the income. since nba income is US sourced, it is subject to federal taxes. in europe, depending on what country you're in, the tax law is vastly different. you may not be required to pay taxes at all, or if your team pays them for you, that may not be considered income, which effectively makes many foreign salaries tax-free.

however, when nba/american players bolt to europe, and people boast about tax-free salaries being a major perk, it really is not. josh childress may not have to pay greek taxes, but he still is required to pay taxes to the US. in the US, you are taxed on your worldwide income. that is the price of citizenship. he could not set foot in america for the next decade and still owe the goverment money (assuming he still is still earning it). what if he needs protection? what if he needs to go to the US embassy? you have to be an american citizen to do that. and all americans, no matter where they live, must pay US taxes. now they can renounce their citizenship, and not be subject to US laws, but they would not be americans anymore.

even if euro salaries weren't tax free, we have a foreign tax credit that prevents much of the double taxation, so no matter what the situation is, in the end, nba players from america are still paying taxes.

also, a european team could offer to pay an american's US taxes. that is fine and dandy, except here in america, that is also considered income, so there really is no escaping it. anywhere in the world you go, as long as you are american, you are paying taxes.

just wanted to throw that out there.

Alyosha12 · Post #2 » by **Alyosha12** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:13 am

The numbers in the contract are after taxes the contracts are not tax free.

The people making the contract take into account that US players need to pay income tax in the US and just rais the amount of the contract so that in the end the player is left with the number they talked about.

britblazerdude · Post #3 » by **britblazerdude** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:18 am

I thought that it meant that the team they play for pays taxes for them.

Rasheeed!!! · Post #4 » by **Rasheeed!!!** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:21 am

it's stupid that you still have to pay to the US gov. even though 100% of your income is earnt elsewhere.....in effect that's double taxing.

Joyeuse · Post #5 » by **Joyeuse** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:22 am

The Euroleague reports after-tax salaries, which includes American federal taxes. However, the salaries are not in any way tax-free; it's just that they're reported as after-tax money so that it is transparent what players are getting across the vastly different tax laws of different countries. However, this demonstrates another way in which the after-tax label may be a bit misleading. It's easy to get the impression that a player with a reported 1.5 million euro salary is only costing his team 1.5 million euros, whereas they may well be paying out 3 million euros.

britblazerdude · Post #6 » by **britblazerdude** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:23 am

Rasheeed!!! wrote:it's stupid that you still have to pay to the US gov. even though 100% of your income is earnt elsewhere.....in effect that's double taxing.

Why is it stupid? otherwise we couldn't occupy Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time.

St.Nick · Post #7 » by **St.Nick** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:37 am

I've been living in Europe for three years now. Its so hard to get hold of a W-2 form here

Kobay · Post #8 » by **Kobay** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:16 pm

You thought you could run away from people who tax you when u die? :lol:

Sedale Threatt · Post #9 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 1:03 pm

Waiting for Lakers_4_Life to swoop in and educate all us feeble-minded Americans...

Post #10 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:12 pm

Rasheeed!!! wrote:it's stupid that you still have to pay to the US gov. even though 100% of your income is earnt elsewhere.....in effect that's double taxing.

I thought this was explained very well earlier in the thread. Fact is, you can avoid being taxed by the US, it's called giving up your citizenship. That's a choice.

DEEP3CL · Post #11 » by **DEEP3CL** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:35 pm

Glad this has been posted, thanks JK. I've been hearing from others about this also, I hope these players re think this now knowing that it just was as easy as packing up and kicking it in the far east.

Nashty · Post #12 » by **Nashty** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:37 am

DEEP3CL wrote:Glad this has been posted, thanks JK. I've been hearing from others about this also, I hope these players re think this now knowing that it just was as easy as packing up and kicking it in the far east.

Did you not read this thread? The op is completely wrong because the euro salaries reported are after tax numbers taking into account the amount of tax they need to pay in the states. So what childress is reported to get is what he's actually going to pocket. That number already factors in the american taxes.

The op's whole premise is that the player still needs to pay american taxes. Well duh and the euro teams already factor that in. The reported salary is the after greek and american tax figure.

Lakers_4_Life · Post #13 » by **Lakers_4_Life** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:59 am

Alyosha12 wrote:The numbers in the contract are after taxes the contracts are not tax free.

The people making the contract take into account that US players need to pay income tax in the US and just rais the amount of the contract so that in the end the player is left with the number they talked about.

Exactly. How many times do this have to be said here?

SabasRevenge! · Post #14 » by **SabasRevenge!** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:05 pm

Kobay wrote:You thought you could run away from people who tax you when u die?

There was an increase to the exemption level of the estate tax, so only the estate's of about 5 per 1000 people who died in 2006 were taxed. Next year it will probably be less than 1/2 of 1%. There are also tax breaks for the smaller estates who still qualify, so the only estates that pay a full tax are the super-wealthy. The breaks to smaller estates and farm (still multi-millionaires) haven't really cost too much revenue because the wealth in the United States has become so concentrated at the very top (hundred-millionaires and billionaires).

At an exemption level of $3.5 million ($7 million per couple), as will exist in 2009, fewer than 100 family businesses and only 65 farm estates would have paid any estate tax.

I have no problem with Paris Hilton's inheritance being taxed, do you?

I don't know if you were kidding or serious, but anti-tax activists probably aren't the most reliable or thoughtful people to parrot.