GAA call urgent meeting to discuss Revenue audits of county boards

The meeting comes as more board officers in the 26 counties are privately urging the GAA at national level to begin talks with the Revenue Commissioners. GAA president Jarlath Burns recently indicated a willingness to speak to them about how to improve supports for inter-county players within Revenue guidelines.

On Thursday, Mayo became the second county after Galway in the space of a few days to confirm they would not be signing off on their 2024 accounts due to outstanding engagements with Revenue.

The Irish Examiner understands that Revenue has not yet accepted the €119,778 voluntary disclosure Mayo made last year pertaining to legacy issues around payments to Cúl Camp coaches in 2018 and ’19.

Mayo, who postponed their annual convention until next week arising from the issues, continue to liaise with the statutory tax body. As this newspaper reported last month, their final liability is expected to be considerably more.

Revenue’s audit of Mayo, particularly the breadth of it, as well as their scrutiny of Galway and Wexford has sent shockwaves around the association. Galway officers have not confirmed their accounts pending a risk review of 2018 and ‘19.

For the same period, Wexford have made a voluntary disclosure of €55,000 to Revenue under the heading of team administration. At convention last Monday, outgoing county chairman Micheál Martin spoke of the possibility of all county boards being audited.

Mayo chairman Seamus Tuohy said on Thursday that the tax liability associated with the payment of expenses was a widespread issue.

“The issues that have been identified by the Revenue Commissioners relate to expense payments made. It is therefore clear that these potential tax liabilities identified by Revenue may also impact every other county board in Ireland.

“As Mayo GAA continue to work constructively with Revenue on these issues, I would urge the wider GAA community to proactively engage on these issues and ensure all county boards have clear guidelines going forward around the tax treatment of all expenses that are incurred in the running of our association."

As well as Cúl Camps, mileage related to players’ sponsored cars which is an agreed lesser amount than the regular rate (10 or 20 cent per mile), referee fees, team holidays as well as the provision of vouchers to players in lieu of being unable to attend team holidays and subsistence expenses, both which are taxable, are among the areas of interest for Revenue.

Currently, senior inter-county players are entitled to a weekly €20 nutrition allowance. However, in relation to meals provided after training Revenue previously stipulated that “a subsistence expenses should not be paid free of tax”.

Mileage, currently starting at 70c per mile on a sliding scale, should be calculated from whichever is the lesser distance to training, from the player’s home or work. As the GAA and Gaelic Players Association continue to negotiate a new players’ protocol, Revenue’s multiple reviews could yet hold up the process.

In 2012, Revenue conducted audits of several boards’ accounts, which came after a series of meetings between GAA financial officers at the time including current director general Tom Ryan as they sought clarification on expenses, payments and other benefits.

The GAA were informed that in the case of casual workers, Revenue were prepared to accept, for ease of administration, an agreed tax rate of 28.5%. However, those arrangements changed in 2019 and those workers had to pay at their personal tax rate.

The possibility of heavy fines not to mention the potential reputational damage to the GAA has prompted great concern in some quarters of the organisation. However, there is a school of thought, including Burns, that believe the amateur ethos and cultural, social and economic significance of should be reflected more favourably by Revenue.