NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

311 TAX LAW Evaluation of Payments Made to Sportspersons within the Scope of Fee In Article 61 of the ITL, wage income is defined as the monetary benefit that is provided, and in kind, and may be represented by mon- ies provided for services to employees, subject to an employer, and connected to a specific workplace. Additionally, it is stated that paying wages under the names of appropriation, indemnity, cash indemnity (financial liability indemnity), allocation, increase, advance, dues, at- tendance fee, premium, bonus, expense provision, or other names, or determining wages as a certain percentage of the earnings, provided that it does not qualify as a partnership relationship, will not change the nature of the wages. In the aforementioned Article, it states that the transfer fee or other payments made to the sportsperson, and the benefits provided, are also within the scope of the fee. Therefore, the monthly salary, achievement premium, per-game fee, signature fee, image right and other benefits made to sportspersons, and benefits provided by giving real estate or vehicles, housing, and other benefits, are also taxed as wages. 1 Withholding Application in Wage Payments to Sportspersons Although payments made to the sportsperson are considered as “wages” as stated, above, they are subject to a different taxation re- gime than other wage taxes. As per Provisional Article 72 of the ITL, wage payments made to sportspersons are excluded from the progres- sive rate tariff; a fixed tax rate is applied to these payments. Through Law No. 7194, the application period of Provisional Ar- ticle 72 of the ITL, which determines the withholding rates and taxa- tion of income tax to be made from wages, and payments deemed to be wages to sportspersons until 31.12.2023, and the withholding rate, has increased from 15% to 20% in the payments made to the top league 1 Kahraman, Abdülkadir : “Transferin Parlayan Yıldızı: Vergi” , Ekonomist, Au- gust, 2020, https://www.ekonomist.com.tr/abdulkadir-kahraman/transferin-par- layan-yildizi-vergi.html (Access date: 11.09.2020).