Article series: Legal problems around esport as a club

In a report from the Hamburger Sportbund last Friday

Should an e-sports department be located in a sports club in the ideal area and with the purpose of “promoting sport” AND be used for e-sports ideal funds (e.g. grants, membership fees, donations) it is a misappropriation that is misappropriation, which is the denial of non-profit-making. Further information can be obtained from your local tax office.

the current development around the problem of the charitable nature of clubs in esports and the like continued. The problems are often – only – financial in nature, but legally still exciting.

The issue is therefore highly relevant, although it is to be hoped that developments in politics will continue and that legal tricks will no longer have to be used.

So I’ve considered publishing a smaller series of articles on the subject for the industry and some clients.

I will start with the question of how to found a club in the first place and what the prerequisites are for it. Then I will deal with the problem of non-profit-making, which is based above all on Clause 52 of the Tax Code. This lists a variety of ways to get the charitable status granted by the tax office.

Since there are some questions unanswered with regard to the question of whether esport can be subsumed under “Sport” in accordance with Section 52 AO, some questions are open and, under certain circumstances, only a comprehensive judicial clarification can really remedy the situation, I would like to point out in further articles whether and how one as a sports club, the Esport can also offer the possible consequences from the above quotation, whether within the framework of a structure or amendment of the statutes in the association or by establishing a separate company.

Many of the problems are highly controversial and the problems lie in a mixture of ignorance and unwillingness to grant esport the status it already deserves, as a social phenomenon.

Since I want to wait for feedback from clients and colleagues on some articles and to sift through current literature, as I want to clarify the questions for a current mandate anyway, I do not want to give a definitive timetable for all articles. But it will happen within the next two weeks. Of course, I am always grateful for any other feedback, support through emails to haertel@rahaertel.com and other help!

Perhaps, through clean reasoning, we can convince one or the other tax office to set a precedent and thus advance broad sport.