So is the Mbappé Law going to be a “Beckham Law 2.0”? Not quite, there are some important differences between the Beckham Law and the planned Mbappé Law. While the former offers income tax benefits for employees who have recently transferred to Spain at a national level, the latter would only be applicable in the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Furthermore, according to the current draft it would only reduce the autonomous – i.e. the Madrid – share of the income tax, and only if the new resident invested in assets in the Madrid region. As this is a still draft law, its wording and content may change. The two tax laws have in common, however, that neither of them was drafted nor passed in specific favour of the footballer they are named after or against the backdrop of them being signed by Real Madrid.
Even though the draft law has not been tailored to Mbappé or to Real Madrid, it would undoubtedly facilitate transfers to clubs in the Madrid region, as the cost of signing a player, whose salary is often negotiated on a net basis, is significantly reduced compared to the cost of the same transfer in Catalonia or another autonomous community.
The question arises, however, whether such unequal treatment between clubs in the same league and the same federation would violate sports and competition law. For example, could the Spanish professional football league La Liga, the Royal Spanish Football Federation RFEF or a club oppose the new regulation and would such an appeal have a chance of success?
Although the answer to these questions would require a much more in-depth assessment once the law enters into force, an initial analysis concluded that the chances of success of an appeal against the regulation based on sports or competition law arguments would be very low.
The reason for such low chances of success is firstly, that differences in the tax burden of athletes between EU countries are not uncommon. Examples of regulations to lighten such burden are the “Beckham Law” in Spain or the Italian tax regulation that favoured the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo by Juventus. Such regulations affect competitions at European level and are not considered contrary to EU Law. Secondly, the establishment of advantages or benefits for the autonomous share of the income tax falls within the competence of the autonomous communities. Owing to this fact, in my opinion, possible effects in sporting competitions, do not justify a revision or correction of such autonomous regulations.