BRASILIA – Brazil star Neymar has been fined £900,000 for tax evasion by a court in his homeland after the PSG star used image-rights companies to reduce payments.
The £200million PSG forward saw the sanction imposed by the Third Room of the Federal Regional Court of the Third Region of Brazil.
Neymar, 25, had £46million in assets seized by Brazilian authorities in 2015 as the Brazilian judicial system looked to ensure the taxes owed were finally paid.
Neymar was accused by the Brazilian treasury two years ago of having not paid all of his taxes in full between 2011 and 2013.
Prosecutors said that Neymar escaped paying tax by using three family-run image-rights companies to divert his income and thus pay a lower tax rate (15-25 percent) than he otherwise would have (27.5 percent).
Judge Carlos Muta hit the ex-Barcelona star with a £900k fine, and declared the player’s conduct throughout the case “violates the dignity of justice.”
He also said the player and his lawyers had used delaying tactics that “embarrass” the process of the courts.
The value of the fine corresponds to two percent of the value that Brazil’s federal treasury would have expected to receive.
