And Hacienda is going after them.
La Liga, the organisation that represents football clubs, earlier this week released a statement saying that its members had paid 165 million euros this year towards unpaid back tax, but Hacienda has now released a counter statement saying they’ve only paid 99 million euros so far, and they still owe 564 million.
That’s excluding the football clubs in Pais Vasco and Navarro, as those regions control their own tax affairs.
This amazing amount, which has come down from 775 million which was due a few years ago, is entirely due to the fact that until la crisis happened and Spain went broke, football clubs didn’t bother filing proper tax returns, safe in the knowledge they were untouchable.
Meanwhile, fans are complaining that la liga isn’t properly representing their clubs, and say that if Hacienda does start embargoing their incomes, their clubs will go under.
Nowadays things are different, and Hacienda went after them.
A number of football clubs are “a single decision away” from having their sources of income embargoed warned Hacienda in the statement, which accuses the clubs of infringing their repayment arrangement.