Present on behalf of ENPALS (Ente Nazionale di Previdenza dei Lavoratori dello Spettacolo): Dr. Vito La Monica, Director of Social Security Benefits and Mr. Roberto Conforti, Head of the Insurance Records, Withdrawals and Voluntary Contributions Office. Present on behalf of GIBA: Giuseppe Cassì, Anne Marie Litt and Pasquale Iracà.
The first discussion was about the possibility that GIBA, the basketball players’ union – most of whose members are sportsmen and women who are recognised as having employee status – might become a sort of mutual protection institution (or “Patronato” in Italian): by stipulating an agreement with ENPALS, GIBA could provide its own members with a complete range of social security-related assistance and consultancy services. The mutual protection institution could, for example, request contribution payment certification on behalf of its members and take part in technical and regulatory discussions. This matter was adjourned awaiting further agreements and meetings. The current administrative structure at ENPALS requires there to be a President (Amelia Ghisani) and a Director General (Massimo Antichi). A few years ago, the president was assisted by a management council which included representatives of the sports men and women (today some AIC representatives sit on an advisory and policy committee, but have no administrative functions).

The ENPALS contribution rate is set at 33% up to an annual amount of 93,622 Euros for 2011 (the amount calculated using the definitive ISTAT data for 2010 of 1.6% compared with the provisional 1.4%), of which 2/3 is attributable to the employer and 1/3 to the player. For any gross salary above this figure, the rate reduces to 5% (½ chargeable to the company and ½ to the player). This sharing of social security payments between the club and the player in fact is not visible, as all employee social security and fiscal charges are paid in full by the employer, while the employee simply receives a net paycheck which of course shows the data for the social security contributions paid at source by the employee and the income tax withholdings. It is important to consider that the income tax threshold is calculated on the basis of the net salary after ENPALS contributions have been paid. If we consider, for example, (to make calculations easier) a gross salary of 93,622 Euros, less the ENPALS contributions of 30,854 Euros, the IRPEF income tax rate is calculated on a net figure of 62,643 Euros.
Pay-based and contributions-based pension regimes
Where over 18 years of contributions and insurance have been paid up to 31/12/1995, the pension calculation system is pay-based. Where less than 18 years of contributions and insurance have been paid up to 31/12/1995, the pension calculation system is mixed (partly pay-based and partly contributions-based). For those workers with no contributions and insurance payments up to 31/12/1995, the pension calculation system is contributions-based.
The pay-based calculation system
is made up of two different pensions quotas: quota “A” for contributions paid up to 31/12/1992 and quota “B” for contributions paid since 01/01/1993. The average daily salary to be taken into account is as follows: for quota “A” the best 540 days or less from any time in the worker’s career revalued, given a daily maximum limit for sportsmen and women in 2011 of 300.07 Euros;  for quota “B” it is the best 1900 days or less, again from any time in the worker’s career and again given the above-mentioned daily limit of 300.07 Euros.
The mixed calculation system
The mixed calculation system is made up of three quotas: quota “A” + quota “B” given by the contributions up to 31/12/1995, plus the contributions-based quota for contributions paid in after 31/12/1995 calculated by applying a return rate of 33% to the annual salary received, with a maximum threshold of 93.622 Euros for 2011, revaluing the amount using the annual rate for revaluing total contributions and applying the transformation coefficient for the person’s age to the total contributions paid in as at the application date.
The contributions-based calculation system
The contributions-based system is calculated by applying the criteria shown above for the contributions-based part of the mixed system to any salaries received after 1995. As regards the assessment as to which of the three systems (pay-based, mixed or contributions-based) is more favourable, I would avoid making any general considerations, given that any assessment will need to be carried out on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the salary received and the number of days worked.
Pension Requirements – prior to 1996
As is known, the CONI and the FIP only recognised basketball as a professional sector from 1 July 1994, and they initially restricted this to the top two national men’s championships (then known as Serie A/1 and Serie A/2, today’s Serie A and Legadue). Only basketball players who played in Serie A/1 and Serie A/2 during the 1994/95 and 1995/96 seasons can benefit from the particular advantages set out in the laws current at the time, which can be summarised as follows:  pensionable age 52 years; minimum 20 years of contributions paid (260 days per year from 1/1/1993 onwards and 180 up to 31/12/1992); the year of military service is counted or pension purposes, so obligatory contributions are reduced to 19 years. Any player who took part in a professional championship during the 1994/95 season, who has always played professionally and is still playing, now has 16 contributions-based years. If he has also done military service, and if he plays professionally for another 3 years, will be entitled to a pension which he will receive from the age of 52 (we will look later at the circumstances regarding shorter playing careers).
Pension Requirements – after 1996
Those who only began playing in the professional leagues from 1996/97 onwards do not have the same advantage of being entitled to a pension from the age of 52. The requirements are as follows: pensionable age 65 years; minimum contributions required, 5 years * 260 days per year = 1300 days; if military service has been performed, 4 years are sufficient; every 4 years of contributions lowers the pensionable age by one year (with 20 years of contributions, the pensionable age thus reduces to 60).
Voluntary contributions
Anyone not meeting the minimum requirements for the pension can integrate their contributions by carrying out so-called “voluntary contributions”. Voluntary contributions can only be paid in if no other work of any other kind is undertaken. The player applies to ENPALS, who will calculate the amount to be paid by working out the average from the year previous to the application and applying a specific rate to that average. This calculates the daily contribution owing. Voluntary contributions are tax-deductible: the amount paid in proportionally lowers the taxable income. Voluntary contributions are of course a useful tool for players who played professionally before 1996, and who stopped playing before they reached the required 20-year threshold (19 if they have done military service). In fact, it is only by adding to these contributions that they will be entitled to receive a pension at the age of 52. Voluntary contributions of 312 days as a sports professional is equivalent to a full year.
Transferability
At the end of his sporting career, a professional player usually finds work which involves paying social security contributions to an insurance fund other than ENPALS. For state employees and for employees in general, this is the INPS Obbligatoria Fondo Pensione Lavoratori Dipendenti (Mandatory Employed Workers’ Pension Fund). In this case (and only in this case) transferability is free and automatic. When the player reaches pensionable age, then the pension is paid out by only one institution (either ENPALS or INPS): whichever of the two has received more contributions. In the case of professional sportsmen who have reached the minimum number of years required by law (5 years or 4 + 1 for professional players post 1996), it is ENPALS that pays out the pension. The INPS/OBG/FPLD contribution is taken into consideration only in terms of the size of the pension and not the entitlements. For other pension funds, transferability is neither free nor automatic. Three possibilities are foreseen: 1) ENPALS contributions are transferred to the Fund/Institution into which later contributions are paid; 2) the contributions paid into other Funds/Institutions are transferred to ENPALS, in which case the contributions thus transferred take on the same value both in terms of the entitlement and measure as the contributions paid into Enpals, and the amount paid is deductible for the purposes of taxable income; 3) no transfer is carried out and payments are made until the requirements are met. In this case, when the pensionable age is reached, ENPALS may be asked to pay out a supplementary pension. Example: a player who after 1996 played professionally for 5 years and at the end of his career, as he met all of the conditions, signed up to a professional pension fund (because, for example, he was now working as a lawyer). When he reaches pensionable age (65 years), we will be paid his pension out of the professional pension fund, but he will be entitled to request from ENPALS (payment is not automatic) payment of a supplementary pension, on the basis of the contributions paid in during his spots career.
Italian sportsmen playing abroad
There are no foreign pension funds specifically designed for sports professionals, so they cannot be taken into consideration by ENPALS for an early pension for professional sportspeople. Social security payments for professional players are paid into a common workers’ pension fund. In terms of requirements, please refer to the rules for the country where the contributions are paid. If contributions have been paid for the player both in Italy and abroad, once the requirements have been met (pensionable age and minimum contributions), then 2 separate pensions are paid out: one in Italy and one in the other country where contributions were paid in.
Foreign sportsmen playing in Italy
Player pension entitlements are identical for Italians and for foreigners. A foreign player who meets the minimum legal requirements in Italy (minimum contribution and pensionable age), enjoys the same entitlement to a pension as an Italian. For residents abroad, the Italian pension is currently sent every two months and not monthly.
Survivor’s pension
Any spouse who is not legally separated, or even one who is separated or divorced (in these cases only if so decided by the Court) is entitled to the survivor’s pension in the event of the pension holder’s death. The same entitlements hold for the pension holder’s minor children, or those up to 21 if still enrolled at high school, or up to 26 if enrolled at university, or for life if disabled.