Referees and Tax

Nozebleed

a close friend of mine is a ref on the dublin scene..and he was telling me how much his earns over a year and its tax free. can anyone tell how this is tax free?

blackbelt

Nozebleed wrote: »

a close friend of mine is a ref on the dublin scene..and he was telling me how much his earns over a year and its tax free. can anyone tell how this is tax free?

Cash in hand.Anybody can declare it for tax and equally not declare it for tax.

What exactly is the issue here?

An Citeog

Nozebleed wrote: »

a close friend of mine is a ref on the dublin scene..and he was telling me how much his earns over a year and its tax free. can anyone tell how this is tax free?

Very few forms of income in Ireland are tax free and referee's earnings isn't one of them. It's all cash in hand though, so it's up to the individual to declare the income to Revenue.

nice_guy80

technically it is not a wage

it's referees expenses.
so it is not taxable.

Nozebleed

its payment for services...and it is taxable i would have thought. should be..anyway. i was just surprised he told me how much he earns a year. very surprised in fairness. i thought it was a non profit organisation or amateur organisation whatever the term is. surely its the same as working on the black market..no?

nice_guy80

Nozebleed wrote: »

its payment for services...and it is taxable i would have thought. should be..anyway. i was just surprised he told me how much he earns a year. very surprised in fairness. i thought it was a non profit organisation or amateur organisation whatever the term is. surely its the same as working on the black market..no?

er, no.
it's paid as expenses for having to travel to the venue etc.
how do referees in rugby and soccer fair out? very well!!
i know junior soccer refs earn more per game and can oftern do 2/3 a day. do they pay tax?

Clareman

I had to travel for work last week from Cork airport, which is ~300KMs for me to travel, I put in for expenses and got ~€100 expenses for it tax free, this is the same "tax law" that ref's expenses fall under I believe

mrgaa1

it says on the form "expenses" - this covers car tax, car insurance, fuel, wear and tear of the car, postage of the report, gym costs etc.... So after all of it there probably isn't much left -here is what it says on the Ulster GAA website - http://www.ulstergaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/revised-referees-draft.pdf

blackbelt

Nozebleed wrote: »

its payment for services...and it is taxable i would have thought. should be..anyway. i was just surprised he told me how much he earns a year. very surprised in fairness. i thought it was a non profit organisation or amateur organisation whatever the term is. surely its the same as working on the black market..no?

You aren't due a bonus from any bank in particular by any chance?

rpurfield

i used to referee and i know it varies from county to county but i wouldnt say i made a living outta it.in fact i often turned down overtime shifts/left work early to go referee games so it would work out at a lot less to referee than to do my two hours work in its place.

Clareman

If you think you're going to make a fortune being a GAA ref you're badly mistaken, my county board secretaries are tighter paying out expenses than they would be if it was their own money

blackbelt

Clareman wrote: »

If you think you're going to make a fortune being a GAA ref you're badly mistaken, my county board secretaries are tighter paying out expenses than they would be if it was their own money

Exactly,while some county boards may be stingy,the Dublin County Board is well run and organised but this isn't the case in a lot of county boards.

To be honest,these expenses would hardly be classed as income in any case.I mean if I drive from Parnell Park to Skerries for example,I'd have to pay my petrol there and back.Thats a good 25-30 minutes each way.Then the time it takes to referee the match,fill out the referee's report,we're talking about 2-3 hours of time spent in some cases,fuel expenses and dedicating a morning,afternoon or evening to the cause.In the case of a weekend afternoon game,the day can be a writeoff.The idea of declaring these expenses for tax is redundant.

OP is this referee still your friend?I suggest if you want to pick on anybody,look at those who are applying their trade on the side while collecting welfare benefits.There is a difference between expenses and an actual wage in which case refereeing isn't a wage.

If your friend drives you to a match and you chip in for petrol expenses,would you be telling him to declare those for tax?I didn't think so.

Magi11

About 5 years ago, the revenue made noises about going after referees "payments" for tax purposes but they were "persuaded" by the government to
leave it alone. Also, when i went to claim rent allowance last year i was told that they wouldnt be counting it as income. The bottom line is that as has been already said although the county board try to place you in a reasonable area in relation to your home, there isnt huge money to be made in GAA refereeing. €20 cash per side is ok but your expenses come out of this. That said, there were 51 people attending the last course in Parnell Park in December, an increase of 400% from 3 years ago so obviously people have assumed that there is easy money to make. But if making money is the main motivation for taking up refereeing then nearly everyone else loses. Teams, players, good refs who will get less games.

DH2K9

Referees deserver every little penny for the amount of abuse they put up with. Remember a referee for big adult games had to bring 4 umpires and 2 linesmen (inter-county) so he has to pay their expenses as well. Most referees do it for the enjoyment of it and not the amount of money.= because they earn very little.