Matchen utanför planen - En rättsvetenskaplig uppsats om skattemässiga avdrag för idrottssponsring och könsneutraliteten i regleringen

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the tax regulation regarding expenses for sponsorship addressed to the sports sector. Sponsorship is deductible as an expense to acquire and maintain income. This thesis uses three fictional situations to illustrate three different situations where sponsoring is at hand. Through these fictional situations the thesis investigates how the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden, (SAC) has handled the current law. To be able to clarify and investigate these conditions and the current law, this thesis are based on a legal dogmatic method. The method is best suited for answering the questions at issue. How the current law is and how it turns out in the sports sector. The main material used is the Income Tax Act, court cases from SAC and legal literature from Påhlsson, Cejie and Bjuvberg. Material from the tax authorities has also been used to review its interpretation of current law. The conclusions to be drawn from the thesis are that reduction for sponsorship can be made on three different causes. Either because there has been an direct counter-performance, or if there has been a strong connection between the parties. The third reason is if there are reason to assume that the expenses has promoted sales for the sponsoring part. These three causes has emerged through case law from the SAC. These causes does not always seem to be followed, since guidelines from the tax authorities displays a more strict assessment then what the SAC has expressed. The thesis also investigates the issue considering equality in the regulations. The law is genderneutral in theory, but is shown to be hidden gender related. The effect of the current law and the current interprentation is not equal. The system created by custom law implicates that there is a greater incentive to sponsor men’s sport than there is to sponsor women’s sport. This thesis have examined and mapped current law on the subject. The current law has shown to be a unclear and unpredictable. There is also a lack of case law regarding sponsoring in the sports sector, which should be very relevant for the development of law on the subject, since sponsorship is such an important part in the sports sector.