Instructor and coach
Sports worker: contract, notification, tax and contribution thresholds.
Organisations · Sport
Amateur sports work in Italy
The sports reform changed everything: payments to amateur sports workers are no longer redditi diversi (miscellaneous income), they are work. Generous exemption thresholds remain, but underneath there is a genuine working relationship, with contracts and notifications.
01 · The reform
The new classification of amateur sports work
Previously, amateur sports payments were miscellaneous income, outside any logic of employment. Today they are working relationships in every respect, with favourable rules but also with contracts, notifications and social security contributions.
- A sports worker can be an employee, self-employed or engaged under a collaborazione coordinata e continuativa (ongoing coordinated collaboration).
- In amateur sport the prevailing form is the ongoing coordinated collaboration, which is presumed when certain conditions are met.
- The relationship must be formalised with a written contract.
- A notification must be made to the sports activities register.
- The rules also cover the administrative and management roles within clubs and associations.
- Volunteers stay outside: they can only receive expense reimbursements, within limits and with supporting documents.
The distinction between volunteer and sports worker is the line everything rests on. A volunteer receives no pay, only documented reimbursements; anyone who receives payment for the activity carried out is a worker, and must be classified as one. A flat-rate reimbursement disguised as expenses is the most frequent finding in inspections.
02 · Exemptions
The tax and contribution thresholds
The favourable regime works through annual thresholds, separate for tax and for social security contributions.
- The thresholds are calculated on the annual total of sports pay, adding up all clubs and associations.
- It is the worker who must report exceeding them, with a self-certification to those paying them.
- Exceeding a threshold triggers obligations retroactively on the excess.
- Documented expense reimbursements do not count towards the thresholds.
- Flat-rate reimbursements, on the other hand, are pay in every respect.
| Aspect | How it works |
|---|---|
| Pay within the tax threshold | Not included in taxable income |
| Pay above the tax threshold | Taxed on the excess, under the rules of the relationship in place |
| Social security contributions | Due on the portion above a separate threshold, with reduced rates during a transitional phase |
| INAIL insurance (workplace accident insurance) | Required according to the rules that apply to the relationship |
| Obligations | Contract, notification to the register, simplified libro unico (employment register) for relationships below the threshold |
03 · ASDs and SSDs
What the association has to do
The obligations have increased, but they are largely simplified for relationships below the threshold.
Registration
The national register of amateur sports activities is the condition for accessing tax relief: without it, the relief does not apply.
Written contracts
Every relationship must be formalised, stating the work to be done and the pay.
Notifications
The start of each relationship is notified through the register, which also serves as the mandatory employment notification.
Simplified libro unico
For relationships below the threshold there is a lighter requirement, which must still be kept up to date.
The most frequent checks
What inspections focus on.
- Flat-rate reimbursements paid as if they were documented expenses
- No written contracts for ongoing collaborations
- Relationships not notified to the register
- Commercial activity not kept separate from institutional activity
04 · The organisation
How ASDs and SSDs are taxed
Amateur sports associations (ASD) and amateur sports companies (SSD) have their own schemes, which sit alongside those for non-profit organisations.
- Membership fees and specific payments from members are, under certain conditions, treated as non-commercial.
- Activity towards non-member third parties is, as a rule, commercial.
- There are dedicated flat-rate schemes for calculating income and VAT on commercial activity.
- Sponsorships have their own rules, with a presumption that the cost is business-related for the sponsor up to a limit.
- Traceable payments above the threshold are a condition for the tax relief.
- The articles of association must contain the required clauses: without them, the favourable schemes do not apply.
Traceable receipts and payments above the set threshold are not a recommendation but a condition: breaching it means losing the favourable schemes, with income recalculated under the ordinary rules. For a small club, that is a disproportionate price for the convenience of cash.
05 · The roles
The people around the club
Each has its own classification, and mixing them up is the most common mistake.
Amateur athlete
Sports worker, with the same rules that apply to the type of relationship.
Volunteer
No pay, only documented reimbursements. Must be entered in the dedicated register with insurance cover.
Administrative and management role
Falls under the sports work rules if working in the amateur sector.
External professional
Accountant, doctor, physiotherapist with a partita IVA (Italian VAT number): ordinary relationship, with withholding tax.
Administrative employee
Office work, caretaking, cleaning: ordinary employment, outside the sports rules.
06 · What to avoid
The mistakes that come to light in inspections
They recur, and since the reform they are easier to spot thanks to the notifications made to the register.
- Still treating pay as miscellaneous income: the classification has changed.
- Paying flat-rate reimbursements and calling them expenses, with no documents.
- Not drawing up written contracts for ongoing collaborations.
- Not registering with the sports activities register, and so losing all the tax relief.
- Not separating institutional and commercial activity in the accounts.
- Paying in cash above the traceability threshold, and losing the favourable schemes.
The most delicate point concerns clubs that have not updated their practices since the reform: continuing to handle pay under the old scheme exposes them to reclassification of the relationships, with contributions reclaimed over several years. This is the case where it pays to check your position beforehand, not afterwards.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
Does an instructor earning a few hundred euros a month need a formal arrangement?
Yes. Even below the tax and contribution exemption thresholds, the relationship must be formalised with a written contract and notified through the sports activities register.
The thresholds concern taxes and contributions, not whether the relationship exists: below the threshold nothing is paid, but the relationship is there and must be documented.
Can I keep paying flat-rate reimbursements?
No, not as before. An undocumented flat-rate reimbursement is pay in every respect and must be treated as such: it counts towards the thresholds and follows the rules on sports work.
Reimbursements of expenses actually incurred and documented are still allowed, as are travel allowances within the set limits. The difference is the documentation.
Our ASD is not on the register. Is that a problem?
Yes, and a significant one: registration with the national register of amateur sports activities is the condition for accessing the tax relief and the favourable rules on sports work.
Without registration, relationships are classified under the ordinary rules, with full contributions, and the club's favourable schemes do not apply.
Who reports that the thresholds have been exceeded?
The worker, with a self-certification to those paying them. They are the only person who knows the total pay received from all clubs during the year.
The paying club relies on that declaration: if the worker does not report exceeding the threshold, the resulting obligations fall on the worker. It is a point to explain to every collaborator at the start of the season.
Let's talk
The sports activities register is the condition for everything else
Without recognised registration the tax relief does not apply and working relationships are reclassified. It is the first thing to check.