Filenews 9 July 2024 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Last year's strict recommendations of the Ministry of Finance to football clubs of A and B division, which, instead of complying with the provisions of the new Debt Repayment Plan to the state, created additional debts within a year, as the Auditor General denounced in a recent report.
The creation of new debts to the state by CFA unions/companies is also confirmed by the data submitted yesterday to Parliament by the Ministry of Finance, which are published today by Phileleftheros.
Football clubs' tax debts alone increased by €4.8 million. within a year, while if one also takes into account the debts to the Social Insurance, the debts created within twelve months will obviously be much greater.
This amount is added to the total long-term debts of football clubs/companies, which according to the recent report of the Audit Office amount to €32.2 million.
With the new Scheme made in May last year, the coverage period of the previous plan was extended, with the inclusion of overdue tax debts of the period 1.4.2021 – 31.3.2023, without granting additional reliefs in the form of impairment in interest and charges.
Provision was also included to reduce the debt repayment period to 168 monthly instalments. The plan has a duration of 15 years and a basic condition for the unions to participate in it was not to create new debts. Which, according to the data of the Ministry of Finance submitted yesterday to the parliamentary Committee on Finance, they have not done.
APOEL the most
"F" reveals the additional tax liabilities related to income tax and VAT accumulated in one year by 14 football clubs/companies out of 19. It is recalled that the Audit Office had claimed that five unions had not given a cent to the State as of May 2023, despite the commitments they made to the Ministry of Finance.
In detail, according to the data of the Ministry of Finance regarding the new Debt Repayment Plan of Category A associations / companies (debts from 1/7/2007 until 31/3/2023), the total outstanding until July 3, 2024 (instalments and current) amount to €4.8 million.
In order of the amount of debts maintained by the associations, the list is as follows:
- APOEL Football Public Ltd and APOEL Athletic Club: €1.34 million
- Apollon Football Limited, Apollon Limassol Athletic Football Club and Apollon Athlopedies Ltd: €1.02 million
- AEL Football Ltd and Athletic Union of Limassol: €960,100.
- PAFOS FC LTD and Paphos FC Athletic Club: €775,800
- Anorthosis Famagusta Football Ltd and Anorthosis Famagusta Club: €374,700
- Ethnikos Achna Athletic Club: €141,700
- Othello Athienou: €83,800
- Ermis Aradippou: €41,200
- Athletic Club of Omonia Aradippou: 27,9 km
- Athletic Club OMONIA Nicosia and OMONIA FOOTBALL: €24,100
- PAEEK KYRENIA and PAEEK Football Limited: €2.874
- Doxa Thoi Katokopias: €500
- Athletic Music Club ARIS Limassol and ARIS PODOSFERO LTD: €500
- Karmiotissa Cultural and Sports Center: €393.82
- Enosis Neon Paralimni and Enosis Neon Paralimni (Football) Public Ltd: €300
- Nea Salamis Athletic Club: €9.46
AEK Kition, Olympiacos Nicosia, Akritas Chlorakas, AEZ Zakaki and OMONIA 29th May complied with the provisions of the new scheme and did not create any new tax debts.
They raise the tax to pay the teams
The data were submitted at a time when Parliament was discussing a bill to increase the percentage of net earnings from betting to be paid by the CSO to the CFA and football clubs, from 1.5% to 3%, money that will be used to pay off the clubs' debts to the state.
During yesterday's discussion in the Finance Committee, the president of the National Betting Authority, Ioannou Fiakou, stated that according to the opinion of the Legal Advisor of the Authority, when the Parliament reaches the final form of the bill, it should be notified to the European Commission in order to be placed, three months in plenary for approval, on the basis of an EU Directive.
