BREAKING NEWS: Lionel Messi formally charged with tax fraud

That's all that Goal.com have to say right now. They might post some pure shit, but this is definitely worth posting. I never thought anything would come of this personally.

Wow, I honestly wonder what will happen. not much because it's Messi I assume.

Fraudssi

Madrid doing whatever it takes to win

Not sure why people are feeling sorry for him. Unless whoever handles his taxes has completely left him in the dark and screwed him over, he's gotten away with allegedly millions in unpaid taxes.

Imagine if that was your average guy not paying a few thousand pounds/euros and getting found out

@Tomwin Lannister wrote:Not sure why people are feeling sorry for him. Unless whoever handles his taxes has completely left him in the dark and screwed him over, he's gotten away with allegedly millions in unpaid taxes.

Imagine if that was your average guy not paying a few thousand pounds/euros and getting found out

exactly, but we all know he wont do a day Jail.

Unless it's different in Spain... you sign your own tax returns and ignorance is not a defense for not paying taxes. You get advice from accountants and lawyers. But when you put pen to paper, you're the one who's responsible for what you're signing.

If Messi feels wronged by his accountant, he could sue him separately. But the tax fraud itself is all on his shoulders and nobody else's in a legal sense.

If messi knowingly dodges taxes and the average person goes to jail over mere thousand's of dollars then throw the book at Messi. He should suffer just like everybody else if he is caught out. If he gets off scot free " just because he is a celebrity" and he knew he was being a fraud then i will be seriously pissd off. Try and dodge taxes in the real non celebrity world and see where that gets you.

You don't go to jail if you can pay the taxes owed and the penalties... tax agencies are looking to get money, not put people in jail if they can help it. He'll just have to pay the monies + a hefty fine.

You only get into serious trouble when it's truly crazy fraud or you lie to the authorities after being caught. Otherwise, as long as you have money, you're ok.

@sportsczy wrote:You don't go to jail if you can pay the taxes owed and the penalties... tax agencies are looking to get money, not put people in jail if they can help it.  He'll just have to pay the monies + a hefty fine.

You only get into serious trouble when it's truly crazy fraud or you lie to the authorities after being caught.  Otherwise, as long as you have money, you're ok.

oh well that clears everything up then:)

what i mean by "crazy fraud" is taking monies that you haven't paid taxes on and hide them in a secret bank account in Switzerland when it's clear that you're breaking the law... you really can't defend that lol. And even then, unless it's a political problem or they want to make an example out of you, you can usually get out of it by paying up.

But saying that you're not a tax expert and your accountant made a mistake is a good defense for avoiding possible jail time. This is going to be Messi's angle. In these cases, you just pay the monies and the fines... and you're done.

It's all about the story lol.

Personally I would execute my rights as a friend of Harry Redknapp, and I would then proceed to buy a dog and put the money in a bank account using said dogs name.

Paying taxes is prole. Messi is too good for that.

Also too good to win ANYTHING with his national team.

Nadal did the samething but with more money and wasn't sent to jail. He just paid back the money..

Betty La Fea wrote:Paying taxes is prole. Messi is too good for that.

Also too good to win ANYTHING with his national team.

Not true seeing as he won the Olympics. And while it's essentially u23, its still the NT..

He is going to settle out of court . I thought that football clubs paid players' taxes in spain . In any case, with friends like Joan Laporta, nothing can touch Messi .

#PrayforHarmonica

@sportsczy wrote:You don't go to jail if you can pay the taxes owed and the penalties... tax agencies are looking to get money, not put people in jail if they can help it.  He'll just have to pay the monies + a hefty fine.

In Germany people do get into jail if they dodged a certain amount and were found out. That's what Uli Hoeneß atm could face, although in his case he turned himself in and there are some legal loopholes that people can get free if they pay the taxes they dodged and if they turned themselves in before the tax guys found out (that is what if currently examined in the Hoeneß affair). Dunno how the law in Spain works, but from the reports it sounds as if Messi was found out by the tax guys and didn't wave the white flag himself.

Barcelona forward, Leo Messi has paid the Spanish tax authorities €10 million for us of his image rights from 2010 and 2011, following official legal proceeding brought against the player for years of tax evasion.

According to Spanish newspaper, La Vanguardia, Messi has made preemptive measures to settle his outstanding tax debts, ahead of new allegations over tax fraud pertaining to his image rights, while still facing formal charges for tax evasions from 2007 to 2009 for the amount of €4.5 million.

La Vanguardia also reports that Messi and his father Jorge, who face one to five years in prison with fines up to six times that of the €4.5 million if convicted, look to reach an out of court settlement with the tax authorities for unpaid amounts from 2007, 2008 and 2009.

According to the Spanish tax authorities, Messi is formally charged with three tax offenses with what they describe as “with the aim of circumventing taxation,” by turning over image rights to “entities located in tax havens (such as Belize and Uruguay) and, in addition, formalising contracts related to licensing, agency or provision of services among these entities and others with addresses of convenience (United Kingdom, Switzerland).”