Pete Jenson: La Liga scraps 'Beckham' tax break

Players earning over £100,000-a-week paid only 24 per cent ta

The United Kingdom tax man is not the only fiscal body putting the financial squeeze on top-earning footballers. The major advantage enjoyed by a British player switching to Spain disappeared this January when the so-called "Beckham Law", which put expensive foreign import footballers in a 24 per cent tax bracket, was scrapped.

Under the law named after the former England captain who was one of the first to take advantage of it, players earning over £100,000 a week had paid the same percentage on their earnings as someone earning £18,000 a year.

Spain's 43 per cent rate for top earners still compares favourably with the United Kingdom, but with the Euro weakening in relation to the pound the advantage has been minimised. There is, however, still one haven for the player keen to avoid paying Spanish tax, although even image rights is no longer the loophole it once was. Until recently an unwritten rule in Spain meant most players would receive 20 per cent of their wages as image rights. This sum would be paid to an image rights company that could, in theory, exist in any country and, therefore, in any tax rate in the world.

The Spanish tax office has got wise to players with no real "image" being paid one fifth of their wages outside of the country's fiscal jurisdiction, and the 20-80 split has now been reduced with most players able to have no more than 15 per cent paid as image rights to a third-party company.