Barcelona superstar Neymar claimed “a great victory” on Thursday after seeing a court in Brazil half a €50 million fine imposed on him by the country’
Tax authorities following appeal.
Neymar, who has also been mired in one legal battle after another over his transfer from Santos to Barcelona in 2013, had maintained that he was within his rights to have his family control his lucrative image rights after Brazilian prosecutors had filed charges of tax evasion against him.
Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo estimated Thursday that following the court’s ruling, the original fine of 188 million reais (about €50 million) imposed in March 2016 could be halved.
Reacting to the development, Neymar’s father and manager, Nermar Sr., said: “We won a great victory, which belongs to God. Our family businesses have been recognised as legitimate,” SuperSport writes.
In more good news for the 25-year-old Brazil international, a financial appeals court (CARF), a body linked to the Economy Ministry, quashed two convictions against the player in relation to irregularities in the payment of taxes on deals through two companies created by his father, although three other convictions were upheld.
Neymar’s troubles began after it was discovered that Barcelona understated his transfer figure from Santos as €57.1 million, with the original amount suspected to be in the region of €83 million.
There are also concerns in Spain and Brazil that the Catalan giants also paid a whopping €40 from his transfer fees to his family.
Barca were asked to pay €5.5-million in fines for their part in the deal while Neymar has been dragged to the court by Spain’s taxman.
