Gaelic Games

GAA attempting to come to terms with increased Revenue scrutiny of counties

A meeting of officers from the 26 counties convened to address concerns

GAA director general Tom Ryan. Photograph: Sportsfile
GAA director general Tom Ryan. Photograph: Sportsfile
Seán Moran
Mon Dec 09 2024 - 21:41

On Tuesday night, the GAA is convening a meeting of senior county officers – chairs, secretaries and treasurers – in the 26 counties in order to address the growing concerns over potential tax liabilities.

This follows on recent events in Galway and Mayo when county board accounts were not signed off, pending further engagement with the revenue Commissioners.

That there are other counties with similar issues was confirmed by GAA director general Tom Ryan, who spoke on RTÉ’s Six One News on Monday.

“I do know and we are aware that the inspector of taxes has raised a few concerns in a small number of counties. We are engaging with those counties – they have some work to do, so we’ll help guide that process. We’ll also be engaging with the Revenue Commissioners and I hope that we can arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.

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“If the issues are the same in each of the counties and I’m not even sure if they are but to the extent that they are, it’s important that there’s a degree of consistency in terms of approach and the best way to do that, I think, is for us centrally to offer some guidance to counties as they navigate their way through that process.”

In the course of its engagement with the Revenue, Mayo made a voluntary disclosure of €119,778 “in relation to potential tax liability for the Cúl Camps programme” but the concerns are broader than just that and extend to players expenses and benefits as well as casual reimbursement for work done.

As one county official put it: “You’d have to think there’ll be implications for the whole voluntary sporting sector in terms of referees, casual employment at summer camps.”

According to a revenue source, the Cúl Camps payments are easy to detect because if they are being treated properly as payments, there should be a spike in PAYE and PRSI in July and August. If there isn’t, there’s a problem.

The current interest, according to a GAA communiqué to county chairs, secretaries and treasurers include any outstanding tax liabilities incurred during Covid payments from 2020-22. The memo cautions by way of advice:

“The Irish Revenue Commissioners are currently reviewing the books and records of several GAA county boards. These reviews are covering periods dating back as far as 2018. The reviews are focused on all payment types made by county boards to service providers, sole traders, employees, coaches and volunteers to determine their tax compliance.

“These reviews are being carried out in conjunction with EWSS (Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme) and TWSS (Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme) reviews to assess whether Government support during Covid-19 was overstated. The following best practice guidance and advice is primarily in relation to employment tax obligation.”

A similar focus on GAA activities took place 12 years ago when payments to referees were in the spotlight. Processing that makes quite detailed demands with one county employing someone, half of whose time is taken up by processing match officials’ payments.

Other areas of Revenue interest related to nutritional allowances, team holidays and management expenses. Mileage has to be at a revenue, civil service rate – depending on engine size rather than a flat payment to everyone.

If managements claimed expenses for a meeting rather than training, there were queries.

The GAA warned its counties that if there is proven non-compliance, the unit in question risks the Revenue Commissioners withdrawing the Sports Tax Exemption, which is available to units whose primary function is “to promote an athletic or amateur game or sport”.

As the communiqué points out, the exemption depends on abiding by the following conditions:

– Remaining tax complaint, ie keeping all tax filings and payments up to date

– Using all income for the promotion of athletic or amateur games or sport

– Keeping proper records and accounts

– Keeping audited accounts where annual income exceeds €250,000

– Seeking permission from the Charities and Sports Exemption unit for any change to the body’s constitution

– Not accumulating excessive reserve funds in an entity’s balance sheet.

The memo is very detailed and runs to 10 pages, including such matters as the potential necessity to treat sponsored cars as taxable benefits in kind.

As Tom Ryan said, the GAA would like to deal with Revenue directly at headquarters level but in the meantime, counties have to make sure that they are compliant.

Association president Jarlath Burns made the same point at the launch of the Sheffield Hallam University report on the GAA’s value to Irish society, estimating it at €2.87 billion.

“Maybe there should be a new way of looking at how the GAA amateur athletes honour obligations to the Revenue in terms of expenses, vouched expenses, nutrition expenses, all of those other expenses that players incur that we try to honour as best we can by staying within the terms of reference of the existing revenue framework.”

Seán Moran

Seán Moran

Seán Moran is GAA Correspondent of The Irish Times