This may stop the drain!

[Perth Red]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/apr/01/super-league-inland-revenue-offshore-payments

Large bills and fewer overseas players as tax loophole is closed

Super League clubs, already facing tough times, have been hit by a fresh financial worry as the Inland Revenue clamps down on the tax loophole under which leading players have been paid a large proportion of their salaries in image rights.
The offshore payments, which date back to 2005 and have mainly gone to overseas players who collect them on their way home, – leading them to be dubbed "flying over Singapore payments" in Australia – have held significant tax advantages for the players and effectively exempted clubs from paying National Insurance on anything up to 40% of some salaries. But now clubs are braced for a major change in those arrangements which will seriously reduce their ability to attract leading Australian players and there are suggestions that they may be forced to make retrospective payments which in a couple of cases could run well into six figures.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Thats good for the game in more ways than one. It will mean that without the big bucks on offer Aussies will be less likely to go over, and that means more English talent will need to be developed, making the international game stronger.

How does this affect the French, do they do similar things?

 

[El Diablo]

this too http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/...-in-super-rugby/2009/04/03/1238261797706.html

French door closes on imports, opening up another in a Super 15

Rupert Guinness | April 4, 2009

MOVES in France to reduce the number of foreigners in each club and introduce a salary cap system in its top two divisions could inadvertently boost the chances of Australia being able to field an extra Super team.

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) has agreed to implement new laws to ensure that for the 2010-2011 season, at least 50 per cent of squads consist of homegrown players, with that ratio increasing to 70 per cent the following season.

It is also planned that salary caps will be enforced for all clubs in its Top 14 league and the Pro2 division.

"We have adopted a ruling that would allow 70 per cent of players to be homegrown from 2011 and also allows the championship to remain open to the talents of the entire world," said LNR president Pierre-Yves Revol. "This measure will also meet the interests of the French national team."

The shift in policy means French rugby will move more in line with the UK and even Japan, where regulations are also set to tighten. From now on, only the very top-line foreigners will attract their interest.

For Australian rugby, that could be good news as it should mean that players on the fringe of Super 14 or Wallabies selection and considering a move overseas will find there are far less opportunities.

France has long been seen as a haven for disenchanted players in union and league ranks - if not for the intent of actually moving there, but by using negotiations as a lever to cut the best deal back in Australia.

Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who recently left coaching English club Saracens to take a full-time post with the Suntory club in Japan, believes that the market worldwide will now become tighter than it ever has been.

"With the economic situation the way it is, it is only going to get tighter and tighter for spots," Jones said from Japan last night. "And certainly the money available overseas is far less than what is was 12 months ago."

While Japan, the UK and France all have limits on foreigners, there are various ways in players from overseas can qualify without being counted in the quota system. But Jones says France has had far looser laws.

In France there are 28 club in their top two divisions and many of their owners and wealth industrialists who have been willing to pay for foreigners in return for quick success.

"It has been relatively easy to get in [to France] because there are so many teams there. Players have been able to get a run easily. You are looking at basically 28 professional teams," Jones said.

"But given that they are going to cut back on foreign players the quality of player that the French clubs will want will be much higher.

"The chances of fringe players going overseas is getting tighter, so it might keep more talent in Australia."

 

[bartman]

Hopefully all of this will just mean less greed among players at the elite level, and mean that in these difficult economic times for clubs we can maintain our salary cap as is, without players and managers holding it to ransom with threats of overseas moves or code switches at the top end.

 

[mrbishi]

Drain? what drain? how many players has the game lost?