Hellas Verona striker Luca Toni is being chased by the German Government for €1.7 million in unpaid Church taxes.
The 37-year-old spent three years in Germany with Bayern Munich between 2007 and 2010, with German Law requiring members of the Church to pay tax of eight percent on their income. Though citizens are exempt from the tax if they declare themselves as atheist.
As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, an error made by Bayern has meant Toni owes €1.7m in back taxes to the Church, with his old club refusing to make a deal with the German authorities.
During his first year with Bayern, the club registered the player as atheist, but the following year he was listed as Italian Catholic.
The Treasury noted the error and sent Toni a reminder to pay the outstanding tax of around €500,000 per year, given his salary was €6m-a-season. €200,000 interest was also added to the bill.
With Toni’s accountants citing an error from Bayern Munich, with Toni stating he was never told that the tax existed in Germany, the judge presiding over the case proposed a compromise of €700,000 to be paid by Toni, €500,000 by his accountants, and €500,000 by the German club.
No parties agreed to the terms and as a result the case will go to trial on July 15.
Around 70 percent of the German Church’s income comes from this form of taxation, and raised over €9.2 billion in 2010.
