Is Paying Cards A Sport?

What is a sport?

You and I have probably encountered that shiny-sparkly when discussing NASCAR.

But can it have a tax angle?

Oh, grasshopper. Even circles take on angles when you tax them.

Let’s travel to the UK. Their 2011 Charities Act defined sports as “activities which promote health involving physical or mental health or exertion.”

Introduce Sport England. They distribute National Lottery funding to encourage people to be more physically active. Seems a desirable cause.

It helps to be a sport if you want to tap-into that pot of Lottery gold.

Enter the English Bridge Union.

They want in.

The EBU has battling HMRC (that is, the British version of the IRS), arguing that entry fees to bridge tournaments should be exempt from VAT (“value added tax,” a sort of super sales tax). HRMC in turn looks to Sport England when developing its regulations. The EBU argued that the “physical or mental health or exertion” wording in the 2011 Act does not require physical activity.

But that is not Sport England’s position. They argue that the goal of sports is to increase physical activity and decrease inactivity.  That is not to argue that activities such as bridge do not help with mental acuity and the relief of social isolation; it just means that it is not a sport.

The EBU brought a refund suit against HMRC for VAT paid between 2008 and 2011. The amount is not insignificant: for 2012/13 alone it was over $800,000. The case went before the High Court of Justice of England and Wales.

The Court ruled that Sport England was within its rights to emphasize physical activities over mental and that Sport England could deny bridge status as a sport. Extrapolating, HMRC does not have to refund VAT paid on bridge tournament fees.

But the Court simultaneously added that it had not been asked to answer the “broad, somewhat philosophical question” as to whether bridge was actually a sport.

Seems both sides have a drum to beat following this decision.

By the way, the British courts have a different way than American courts. The lawsuit cost the EBU approximately $150,000. But they lost. They have also been ordered to pay approximately $75,000 to Sport England as reimbursement of their legal expenses.

COMMENT: I like this idea.

The EBU went to the Court of Appeal in London, where they lost earlier this year. They then appealed to the EU courts.

Here is Advocate General Maciej Szpunar of The European Court of Justice determining that bridge is a sport because it requires

… a certain effort to overcome a challenge or an obstacle” and “trains a certain physical or mental skill.”

The Advocate General’s decision will in turn be reviewed by the full Court en banc.

Soon an EU court will review a British tax decision. My understanding is that the British would not have to observe an adverse EU decision, but such a decision should nonetheless carry considerable persuasion.

And the Brits argue what constitutes a sport … because they have decided to tax something unless it is a sport. Well heck, all one has to do is remove “sport,” replace with another word, and we can continue this angels-on-a-head-of-a-pin nonsense until the end of time.

I do sympathize with the EBU. The HRMC, for example, recognizes both darts and snooker as sports, whereas you and I would recognize them as activities played in a bar. Several European countries – Austria, France, Denmark and others – already recognize bridge as a sport. To be fair, there are other countries – Ireland and Sweden, for example – that do not.

Did you know that the International Olympic Committee classified bridge as a sport back in 1998?  

But still…

I have difficulty with the concept of a “mental sport.”

By that definition tax practice – that is, what I do professionally – is a sport. 

Trust me, this is no sport.

The President’s myRA

The President introduced something called a “myRA” at the State of the Union speech. He explained…

… while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn’t help folks who don’t have 401(k) s. That’s why, tomorrow, I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: myRA. It’s a savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. myRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in.”

The idea here is to encourage small retirement savers. The concern is that routine bank or investment fees (for example, the annual “maintenance” fee for an IRA) may discourage some (or many) from saving for retirement. Under the myRA, the government picks up that tab. The concept makes sense.

The myRA would function as a Roth-type account. Monies going in would not be deductible for income taxes.

Contributions will be automatic, voluntary and small. Initial investments could be as low as $25 and ongoing contributions as low as $5. Contributions would be made through “automatic” payroll deductions.

COMMENT: “Automatic” meaning actual employers who pay people in actual payroll department to process these transactions. Automatic seems to mean “magical” inside the Washington beltway. 

The myRA big deal will be the savers account balance “will never go down.”

COMMENT: Somewhat like a savings account or certificate of deposit. There are – by the way – no annual fees for those accounts either. They are “magical.”

The myRA will earn the same interest rate as the federal employees Thrift Savings Plan Government Securities Investment Fund.

NOTE: Which returned 1.47% in 2012. Unfortunately, inflation for 2012 was 1.8%. The G Plan pays investors the investor the average return on long-term Treasury bonds.  

It will be available to households earning up to $191,000 annually.

Participants will be able to save up to $15,000, or for a maximum of 30 years. 

            COMMENT: Remember: this is a “starter” savings plan.

There would be a provision to transfer the account to a Roth IRA.

COMMENT: That part makes sense, as these accounts can be described as “Roth-lite.”

The President created this by executive action this past Wednesday.

            COMMENT: Really? 

Reflecting the crowd currently occupying it, this White House also wants to compel employers that do not offer myRA’s to offer automatic enrollment IRAs.

OBSERVATION: Approximately half of American workers are not covered by a retirement plan at work, propelling policy mandarins to talk about “mandatory” solutions to the retirement “problem.” I acknowledge the problem - two problems, in fact. First, that many people do not save enough. It might help if they had a job, though. Second, that these hacks and their “mandatory” solutions are themselves a problem.  

Call me completely underwhelmed. 

France’s New 75% Tax Rate

I do not recall ever talking about French taxes on this blog, but this morning I saw something that stunned me.

France has announced a 75% income tax rate.

Now, think about that for a moment. You would be giving-up 75 cents on the dollar, just for the privilege of setting an alarm clock, cutting sleep short, incurring dry cleaning, sitting in traffic and – finally – stressing at work. This move is driven by economic pressures in the European Union. We are familiar with the debt crisis of Greece, but Spain is also facing difficult times. Italy is hot on their heels. Germany is pulling this sled, and France likes to think that it is closer to the lead dog than the rear. Germany allows France to think that.

The EU has restrictions on allowable member deficits, and France is looking to narrow its deficit from 4.5% to 3% next year. It is doing this by raising 30 billion euros. Unfortunately, it seems to have escaped French President Hollande that one way to save money is to spend less of it. Hollande has announced that the money will be used for – among other things – thousands of new civil servant jobs. Brilliant!

The French government has softened the blow by announcing that the tax will be in effect for only two years.

On the other hand, for two years France will have the world’s highest tax rate.

French income tax applies on worldwide income for individuals who reside in France. The key word here is “reside.” Nonresidents are generally taxed only on French-source income. This is not the U.S. system, where a U.S. citizen is taxed on worldwide income, irrespective of where he/she lives. A U.S. expat living in Thailand for the last twenty years is still required to file an annual U.S. income tax return. On the other hand, a French citizen can avoid French tax by not residing in France, although I anticipate that the French tax authorities would aggressively dispute the issue of residence, where possible.

Seems to me that – if I made enough money to be subject to this new tax – I would have enough money to leave France for a couple of years. Why would I work for twenty five cents on the dollar? Short answer: I wouldn’t.