US medal-winning athletes at the Olympics have to pay tax on their prize money

[bekdik]

Are the South Africans also ripped off?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19101429

The US Olympic Committee awards prize money to its medal winners - $25,000 (£16,000) for gold, $15,000 (£10,000) for silver, and $10,000 (£6,000) for bronze.

This money is considered taxable income by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), an athlete on the highest rate of tax (35%), could face a tax bill of $8,750 (£5,600).

The value of the medals themselves could be subject to tax too, according to the ATR - adding a further $236 (£150), $135 (£85), and $2 (£1.20) respectively for gold, silver and bronz

[xrapidx]

Why is it a rip off? Everyone else is taxed on income.

[abzo]

How much do SA athletes get paid for their medals?

[Garson007]

How much do SA athletes get paid for their medals?

I've heard a R400k figure for gold.

[abzo]

I've heard a R400k figure for gold.

They're getting paid more than the US athletes? Well I suppose the US are already in dire economic straits and are going to be winning much more than us to be able to pay as much.

[abzo]

Here you go : http://www.businessday.co.za/Article...aspx?id=176600

SA’s athletes winning medals and receiving special bonuses during the London Olympics will be drawn into the UK tax net.

Tax consultants said the winning of prize money and additional bonuses from sponsors are directly linked to their profession and would be considered taxable income and not capital.

Elriette Butler, associate director at BDO in Johannesburg, said athletes winning prize money or special bonuses at the London Olympics were not considered as "voluntary awards" but were directly linked to the carry on of their trade, which was being a professional athlete.

Sport officials in several countries including SA, Kenya and Ghana had promised their athletes monetary incentives if they brought medals home from London.

Athletes finishing with gold will receive R400000, R200000 for silver and a bronze medal win will receive R80000. Their coaches will also be rewarded, a first for team SA. The Paralympics team will receive cash incentives as well. Podium finishes which could see them taking home up to R100000.

Ms Butler said athletes who received income in the UK due to their participation in the Olympics would be taxed on their UK-sourced income. The same principle applied with previous Olympic Games in the USA and Canada.

[Garson007]

They're getting paid more than the US athletes? Well I suppose the US are already in dire economic straits and are going to be winning much more than us to be able to pay as much.

The USA need not give their athletes incentive, given how many medals they get just by showing up. South Africa is quite different, where we can go an entire meet without a medal.

[Park@82]

How much is a gold medal worth? in its metal value...

Edit: around $500 it seems

[Nerfherder]

Its probably worth more than its weight... although I doubt the medals are solid gold anyway.

[mike156]

How much is a gold medal worth? in its metal value...

Edit: around $500 it seems

Values were given on radio the other day, something like $600 odd for gold, $300 odd for Silver and Bronze was something stupid like $5

[Park@82]

I thought it had a lot more gold. Those cheapskates .

[evilstebunny]

Having read this today I thought I'll share ..

It is, I looked at the return on investment post-Beijing for some of the world’s most successful Olympic nations, the Great Britain team was winning one medal for every R65m that they were investing. The Australians were winning one medal for every R62m and the Netherlands were winning one medal for every R60m. So you can see there’s more or less a standardised cost in those countries and it’s about R60m per medal. So when we spend R70m to R80m and we come back with, so far, three medals, we’re actually winning far more medals per dollar than any other country is doing. We’re winning cheaper medals and I think that’s a good thing.

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/content...ail&pid=295683

[bwana]

Its probably worth more than its weight... although I doubt the medals are solid gold anyway.

- The London 2012 Olympic medals weigh 375-400g, are 85mm in diameter and 7mm thick.
- The gold medal is made up of 92.5% silver and 1.34% gold, with the remainder copper (a minimum of 6g of gold).
- The silver medal is made up of 92.5% silver, with the remainder copper.
- The bronze medal is made up of 97.0% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.

http://www.london2012.com/medals/about/

[abzo]

So the difference between 1st and 2nd place is only 1.34%. Sucks to be 3rd.

[Picard]

Say it's a team sport like our 4 man rowing team that won gold ... will each of them receive R400 000?

It could become quite expensive for SA.