Taxation on the Athlete’s Right of Privacy

Abstract

This article analyzes the possibility of transferring the athlete’s right of privacy to be exploited by a third party and the taxation on the resulting income. According to article 87-A of Law n. 9.615/1998, the amounts received for the assignment of the professional athlete’s right of privacy do not constitute salary, because they result from a civil nature contractual adjustment. However, the tax authority has been issuing several notices of violation against the athletes on the grounds that the right of privacy is non-transferable and that there are disguised wage incomes, received through a legal person as if these amounts were arising from the economic exploitation of the right of privacy. Analyzing the Carf’s decisions, it is observed that today there is no majority opinion about the possibility of assigning the athlete’s right of privacy to a legal entity and whether the absence of demonstration of the effective exploitation of privacy alters the nature of the contract.