While Premier League footballers are often accused of being grossly overpaid, they are also heavily taxed on their huge salaries.
New research shared with City A.M. by tax firm RIFT Tax Refunds has revealed just how much is paid by the Premier League's highest earners on their annual wages.
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid player in the Premier League on a whopping £510,000 a week, which equates to just over £26.52m a year.
But the Portugal international ends up paying nearly half of that amount in tax, around £12.78m – which still leaves him with a generous figure of £13.74m a year.
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Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is thought to be the second highest-paid player in the league on £400,000 a week, or £20.8m a year.
His annual tax contribution is estimated to be £10.02m, with the Belgium international keeping £10.78m.
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea is next on the list with an estimated tax bill of £9.40m, while his teammates Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane hand the tax man £8.77m and £8.52m respectively.
The highest-paid footballer who doesn't play for one of the two Manchester clubs is Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku, who pays £8.14m tax on his £16.9m salary.
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According to the report, the average weekly salary of a Premier League player is £60,000, or £3.12m a year.
This equates to an average tax payment of £1.45m, significantly higher than that of players in La Liga (£895,218) and Serie A (£846,023).
Players in the Bundesliga pay on average £782,043 less tax than those in the Premier League, while those in Ligue 1 pay £1,338,475 less than their counterparts in the top tier of English football.
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"It's fair to say that the Premier League's biggest names earn more in the time it takes to tie their boot laces than many of us earn in a year,” the CEO of RIFT Tax Refunds, Bradley Post, told City A.M.
"That said, the amount of tax they contribute is astounding, contributing huge amounts to the UK economy before you even account for the money generated by fans eagerly travelling around the country to watch them play.
"Of course, we’d be naive not to acknowledge that many, if not all of them, will employ some very savvy accountants who can help them streamline these tax bills."
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A study conducted last year estimated that Premier League football contributed £7.6bn to the UK economy during the 2019-20 season, which was suspended for three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The League and its clubs generated a total tax contribution of £3.6bn that season, £1.4bn of which was accounted for by Premier League players.
Topics: Football, Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City, Manchester United
Rory O'Callaghan