The 'Huerta case', a common practice among celebrities

The 'Huerta case', a common practice among celebrities

Hacienda has inspected singers, soccer players or actors to use instrumental societies and avoid greater taxation by the IRPF

  The problem of the Minister of Culture, Màxim Huerta, with the Treasury is based on a practice well known to the Tax Agency and to which many celebrities have turned in recent years. It is a matter of taxing your income from labor income through an instrumental company to save a significant amount in taxes. In the case of Huerta the figure of fraud reached 218,322 euros for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. In this way, the minister swelled a list that includes singers, footballers and actors. But what is this way of evading fiscal responsibilities?

Many of these celebrities have resorted to creating companies paying less taxes. A singer, for example, set up a company without employees or structure, with only one administrator and whose only activity is to invoice through it all the income generated by the concerts.

  In this way, the high income is taxed by the Corporation Tax, whose highest tax rate is 25% (normally less due to deductions) and avoid doing it by the IRPF with a tax that could reach up to 48% in some communities . Therefore, they achieve savings in taxation of more than 20 points. Subsequently, these companies can pay a small part of that income to the artist on duty for the declaration of income.

In all cases, those affected argue in their defense a change of criteria of the treasury, something that they deny from the agency. From the Trade Union of Tax Technicians (Gestha) remind that it has never been legal to use a company as an instrumental way to "avoid paying the tax".

In the case of Huerta, in 2006 he created the company Almaximo Profesionales de la Imagen SL, of which he was the only shareholder and administrator to bill his work as a presenter. However, the Treasury considers that companies incorporated to invoice income generated by a single person represent a way to avoid taxes. In addition, according to the judgments, Huerta deviated irregularly expenses of "artistic activity" of work that was done in Madrid.

Messi and Cristiano

In the case of footballers or other athletes, the creation of this type of company is used to bill income for image right. Undoubtedly one of the most mediatic cases in this sense is that of Leo Messi, who became the first Spanish taxpayer to pay 53 million euros to the Treasury. A large part of this amount was due to the presentation of supplementary declarations (out of time) of the last years in which it had not declared income for image rights.

On this occasion, the problem was that the taxation for these payments was made to companies abroad without paying income taxes. A delay that also led to a penalty of 3 million euros. In a similar situation is Cristiano Ronaldo, who tries to reach an agreement with the Treasury to avoid trial.

Another of the most mediatic cases was that of Juan Carlos Monedero. The political scientist and founder of Podemos invoiced through the company Resistencia Motiva 2 Producciones SL the 425,150 paid by several Latin American governments (Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador) for advice for the implementation of a common currency. The problem, once again, is that the company has no employees and its sole administrator is Monedero. In his case, he regularized the situation with the Treasury through a supplementary declaration that only involved a surcharge for delay.