Manchester United Manager Refutes Claims Of Tax Fraud

Robbie Lawther

22 June 2017

The advisors of Portuguese football manager Jose Mourinho have said that he is innocent of tax fraud, after he was accused of defrauding Spain by prosecutors.

Mourinho, who had his tax affairs ratified by the Spanish government, was accused by prosecutors of defrauding Spain in the region of €3.3 million ($3.6 million) in taxes while he was Real Madrid coach from 2011 to 2012, according to the BBC.

The news comes less than a week after media reports said Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has the same agent as Mourinho, was accused of defrauding Spanish tax authorities of €14.7m by hiding his income from image rights.

Ronaldo has denied the accusations and is threatening to leave Spain. He is set to give evidence in his case on 31 July.

A prosecutor said Mourinho did not declare income from image rights to get an “illicit benefit”.

The statement released on the manager’s behalf said he “has not received any notification”.

The Gestifute Media said: “To this date, neither the Spanish tax authorities, nor the public prosecutor have contacted Jose Mourinho or his advisers who were hired for the inspection process.

“(Mourinho) paid more than €26 million in taxes, with an average rate of more than 41% and accepted proposals for regularization of the Tax Administration in 2015 for the years 2011-2012 and resolved by agreement the situation for the year 2013.

“The Spanish government in turn, through the Tax Agency, issued a certificate confirming that it had regularised its situation and that it met all its tax obligations on time.”

International tax lawyer Miles Dean, founding partner of Milestone International Tax Consultants, aired his view on the Mourinho image rights discussion.

Dean said: "It is highly likely that Jose Mourinho assigned his image rights to the company in the British Virgin Islands prior to his arrival in Spain. The image rights are separated from Mourinho and income on them is produced by the BVI company, not Mourinho in Spain.

“If, like Ronaldo, Mourinho benefitted from the Beckham Law, non-Spanish source income arising to a BVI company is not subject to Spanish tax and is therefore irrelevant as far as the tax enquiry is concerned.

“When structuring image rights for sportspersons and entertainers, timing is everything. It is possible to structure an image rights deal worth considerable sums if the individual is in the right place at the right time. In this case, it may transpire that Mourinho’s BVI company has been paid from the wrong place at the wrong time.

“If the income earned by the BVI company represents payments from a Spanish source, Real Madrid for example, one would imagine he's up against the eight ball."