Taxation and Sport

To propose that the tax laws of the world are anything but a global misfortune is to deny reality. The tax laws of this planet are incomprehensible to many skilled tax practitioners: they are beyond understanding to the average person. Yet, the average person must comply with the declared taxation laws. The Australian parliament and government has seen fit to conform to the global trend of insensible taxation laws. No one person is capable of fully understanding and comprehending them: the statutes, regulations, rulings and policy papers that govern Australian taxation are not measured in sections or pages, or even in volumes, but are calibrated in cubic metres. The dilemma with such incomprehensible tax laws is twofold: The taxpaying athlete is unable, even with all good conscience, to comply with the laws and might inadvertently breach a tax statute or regulation. The taxpaying athlete does not understand the laws and, therefore, is unable to benefit from the advantageous provisions in the tax statutes and regulations.This book attempts to partially remedy those situations. The reader will be informed of some of the pitfalls within the tax statutes and a few of the opportunities offered by those same laws. Specifically, this book outlines the tax treatment of sport in Australia and the foreign tax treatment of Australian international athletes. The topics are divided into Australian sportspeople, Australian sporting clubs, international sport, and taxation planning.