KEY POINTS:
Canterbury Rugby Football Union has reported a $428,000 loss after settling a half-million-dollar taxation dispute leaving it unable to pay its annual $300,000 discretionary grants to clubs.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said the deficit was reported to delegates at the annual meeting last week.
The union was forced to pay about $580,000 to settle the dispute, which Riach said was "related to the tax treatment of the manner in which (Canterbury's professional) players were paid" between 1998 and 2001.
Riach told The Press today the taxation dispute was a "one-off situation" and there would be no ongoing liability.
The union had managed to fund its commitments, to the tune of about $2.5 million to both the amateur and professional games during the year.
But it would not be able to pay a discretionary grant out of surplus earnings.
- NZPA
