NAVI's Aleksib accused of tax fraud by Finnish tax authorities

According to Finnish news website 'ILTALEHTI', NAVI IGL Aleksib has been accused (or charged with, depending on the translation) of aggravated tax fraud, and owes a significant amount in unpaid taxes having run his prize money and salary through his own company in order to lower the amount of tax paid.

The original version of this article suggested a figure of "€200-300k" in back taxes, which was an unsubstantiated rumour, so we have edited this to clarify.

It should be mentioned that this is not an uncommon occurrence and many players do this, especially in the Nordic countries where taxes are famously high, and isn't necessarily proof or evidence of any wrongdoing unless he's made an error somewhere.

This is usually allowed as players are technically not employees and are contractors, so as such are essentially, as we understand it, self-employed.

This was during 2020 when Aleksib was on OG, so it's possible that - if this hasn't occured before or since - it was an error on their part as much as his, and perhaps something to do with how his contract was structured.

The reason we suggest this as a possibility is not out of blind faith in Aleksi, who may well have messed up, but because it's not the first time an OG esports athlete from Finland has had issues.

As mentioned by is.fi, Dota player JerAx had run-ins with the Finnish taxman during his career, and they mention that the tax authorities' website states:

If you are employed by a payer, the compensation paid for work, i.e. training and competition, is the athlete's salary. The fringe benefits you receive in the employment relationship also constitute salary. Example: You play sports on an e-sports team. In your player contract, you agree to play sports, i.e. participate in competitive games and training, in return for payment. This type of compensation you receive from sports is taxed as wages. Prizes and participation fees may be taxable wages, salaries or work compensation. Competition prizes received for sports performance, for example based on placement or performance, are athlete's remuneration. All this income is taxable earned income.Prizes and participation fees may be taxable wages, salaries or work compensation. Competition prizes received for sports performance, for example based on placement or performance, are athlete's remuneration. All this income is taxable earned income.

This might suggest instead that the Finnish government do not recognise these contracts as contractors, but as employees, and as such not allow this loophole, but that does beg the question as to why allu has never had this issue, or why it's seemingly only popped up for this one year.

Finnish taxes are notoriously high, with Topson once claiming he had to pay 60% of his TI winnings (again, Dota tournament for the uninitiated), which is an absolutely staggering amount of money to 'lose' to the taxman.

This is a developing story and Aleksi has refused to comment on the matter with it being raised to the Itä-Uusimaa District Court, so we will have to see what comes of it.