There are very few eponymous taxes, possibly because very few of us would wish to become permanently linked to any revenue raising device. So a “Beckham tax law”?

As it turns out, Beckham tax isn't a tax at all, it's a relief. Shortly before the footballer left Manchester United, the Spanish authorities introduced an incentive regime to encourage talented individuals to come and work in the country. You could think of it as a cross between the remittance basis and the artists exemption. Under Spanish law an individual may elect to be taxed at a flat rate of just over 20% for five years if:

• he has not been resident in Spain any time during the preceding 10 years,
• he moves to Spain because of an employment contract
• he works physically in Spain for a company or entity resident in Spain or for a Spanish permanent resident of an non-resident, and
• his salary income is not exempt from non-resident income tax.

While aimed primarily at innovators, entrepreneurs and senior managers, it just so happened that expensive imported soccer players of the type that grace the team sheets of Real Madrid and Barcelona could also qualify. As its introduction broadly coincided with David Beckham's transfer to Spain, the tag was well nigh inevitable.

It would now appear that the relief will shortly be no more. Ireland is not the only country looking at tax expenditures, and it's reported that the Spanish authorities plan to significantly alter the relief from January of next year by upping the flat rate to over 40%.

Bad puns about playing by the rules, level playing fields etc have been studiously avoided in the drafting of this article.