Pascalinah Kabi
MASERU — The government has announced new tax concessions to companies that sponsor sports.
A director in the sports ministry, Puisano Tšosane, told the media that companies that sponsor sports will get huge tax discounts.
Tšosane was speaking at the unveiling of new sponsors for the Independence Cup on Tuesday. Insurance giants Metropolitan Lesotho and Standard Bank Lesotho are the new sponsors for the Independence Cup with each company pledging M100 000.
“You will be glad to know that the new Sports and Recreation Regulations have just been passed to give companies involved in sports some discounts on tax payments,” Tšosane said.
She said companies that are involved in sponsoring sports will now get a tax discount depending on how much they are giving out.
“After you’ve been educated on this (regulation), you will be aware of how much you are going to get depending on the amount of money you would have given out,” she said.
Some companies have in the past complained about the high taxation levels that discouraged them from sponsoring sports.
Sports associations have also raised similar concerns.
For example, the Lesotho Athletics Amateur Association (LAAA) last year said it was struggling to secure sponsorship.
In an interview with the Lesotho Times last year, LAAA spokesperson Sejanamane Maphathe conceded that they were struggling to secure sponsorship.
“I am sorry to say this but it’s very impossible for us to attract any sponsors because they never run out of excuses,” Maphathe said.
Maphathe said it has been difficult for the LAAA to secure sponsors because most companies said they were not getting tax discounts from the government.
“In the past they (private companies) said they couldn’t sponsor us because there were no laws in Lesotho that stipulated that a company involved in sports will get a tax discount,” Maphathe said.
“Now that parliament has passed a Bill that says every private company involved in sports could be offered a revenue discount, they are saying the Bill does not specify the figures,” he said then.
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