Reform of sports work: the new protections and the tax credit

A threshold of 200 thousand euros in annual revenues to protect small sports clubs from the new obligations which will entitle them to a tax credit to cover tax and social security costs for workers. The increase from 18 to 24 hours per week of services that fall under the umbrella of facilitated sports taxation. The exit of the referees and all the judges and match directors from the band of workers involved in the reform, without prejudice to reimbursements for travel, even if there is a little yellow here because the initially approved text provided for a working condition for who operates outside the municipality of residence (that is, it would have been necessary to contract practically all the arbitrators, but there would have already been a correction). These seem to be the most important novelties of the corrective decree on sports work approved by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the owner of Sport, Andrea Abodi, and that of Labour, Marina Elvira Calderone.

Timing

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The new provisions will enter into force on July 1st, but there will be time until December 31st for the statutory adjustments of sports clubs. Those who fail to do so will leave the Sport Department’s register of sporting activities. Now it’s a question of understanding the rebound of the rules on the life of sports clubs. The first discourse concerns the timing: sports clubs should begin to contractually frame workers (see for example amateur footballers) but to do so they will have to wait for the decree process to be completed. And the new season is upon us.

Stop the poor protections

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More than the economic issue, the concern concerns the burden of bureaucratic obligations. Surely we will need to spend more time, and spend more money on accountants, but it is also true that sooner or later the idea of ​​sports work with B-level protections or in the absence of protections could not go ahead. The decree completes a long march of approach begun with the minister Vincenzo Spadafora already in the harsh seasons of Covid (precisely the famous bonuses in times of closure of gyms and sports centers “cleared” the figure of the sports worker, until then a ghost : 209 thousand requested) and then taken up by the undersecretary Valentina Vezzali. Now Abodi translates all the different solicitations without betraying the initial spirit of the reform.

How much will it cost

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Difficult to calculate the impact, but an increase is estimated at between 4 and 8 percent for companies in the first five years, half for the worker. First non-negative reactions from the opposition. Says Mauro Berruto, the former volleyball coach who is now the Pd’s sports manager: “To begin with, I express my satisfaction with the fact that there will be no postponement as various rumors suggest. We now hope for an institutional communication phase that explains the new rules well in a world of sport that seemed disoriented by the approaching deadline without having had precise information on the new obligations. The reason for perplexity is the lack of simplification of some procedures even for those who are below the 5 thousand euro threshold. We hope that the implementing decrees will be able to help this need for red tape”. For Gianni Petrucci, president of Federbasket “the raising of the limit from 18 hours to 24 hours per week regarding the presumption of self-employment in amateurism is acceptable. I have some doubts about the changes made to the refereeing sector. There are positive aspects, but I I reserve my considerations once I have seen the final regulatory text”.

The new framework

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Three brackets are confirmed for those who work in the sports arena. The first and the one up to 5,000 euros, tax-free (now it was 10,000). In the second, between 5,000 and 15,000 per year, only the contributions will be due, over 15,000 also the tax payments. For all there will be a reduction of 50 per cent in the first 5 years. For those with revenues of less than 200 thousand euros, however, the tax credit is triggered. In practice, the company will have to advance money which will then be returned in the tax office. Now, however, we will have to wait for the final publication. And only then will it be possible to have an overall look at a reform that is in any case necessary for a world of sport, trying to combine respect for protection and sustainability.