France Tax Rate on Football Player Salaries

France has one of the highest tax rate in Europe with a 45% income tax rate if incomes exceeds €180,000 annually. This income tax includes a 4% surtax for top-tier footballers with annual earnings above €500,000. The average salary in the league is around €30,000 per week that is over €1 million annually which means most of the footballers playing in France are paying the highest tax rate of 49%. French national tax rates heavily affecting Ligue 1 wages of the club as teams apart from PSG are struggling to attract big talent or keep the french talent in France. Largely down to the fact, more and more players are asking for bigger salaries to compensate tax burden. 

Current Tax Rate on Football Player Salaries in France.

A surtax of 3% and 4% applies to income holders between €250,000 - €500,000 and €500,000+, respectively. Therefore, elite football players can face a tax rate of about half of their total income, 49%.

France Social Security Charges on Footballers

Football players in France are required to dedicate a fixed percentage of their income to the country’s social security system. This makes France one of the most expensive taxation systems for professional athletes, including footballers.

Effects of Tax Rate on Football Player Contracts and Football Clubs

Most of the top French football clubs provide gross salary packages to reduce the tax rates on both domestic and foreign players to make sure they are getting competitive salaries compared to other leagues around europe. Club like AS Monaco, Olympique Lyonnais, and specially PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) usually offer higher salaries to their players compared to the average French ligue 1 salaries to compensate high french tax rate.

There is also non-residents tax rate which is around flat 30% which can be helpful for some of the player recently arriving in France or on short contracts like loans. A contract above 6 months period do not qualify for this tax bracket because a player become tax resident if he spends more then 6 months in france.

FAQs

1. What is the highest France tax rate on footballer salaries?

The maximum income tax rate that top-tier footballers pay in France is 49%. This personal income tax rate applies to players with annual income above €500,000. However standard highest income tax rate is 45%, which applies to players with annual income above €180,294.

2. Do international football players avoid contracts with French football clubs due to the higher income tax rate of the Country?

The French income taxation system does influence the international footballers contracts with French clubs. However, top clubs such as PSG structure contracts to favor international footballers through gross salaries and still manage to attract high-ranked international players to some extent.