Messi’s tax affairs have been almost as well publicized as his on-field intelligence. With the amount of money he receives, the player is expected to remit some of it to taxes. Some of the taxes he is entitled to are image tax and income tax. However, tax evasion issues are not new to players. A report published by La Vanguardia back in 2017 indicated that the player had to pay the Spanish authorities taxes amounting to a staggering €53 million. This was due to taxes not remitted.
The breakdown is as follows:
- 22.4 million for 3 years of image rights plus interest payments
- 12 million in income tax for salary 2013
- 13 million for the image rights
- 1 million owed in old taxes
- 5.1 million paid to court when investigations began
These fines made him the highest taxpayer in Spain that year, a record he might not be not so proud of.
