Court of Appeal nullifies income tax decision on national cricketers
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Monday (Aug 31) nullified a decision by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue to treat members of the country’s national cricket teams as employees of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and impose personal income tax on their earnings.
The ruling was delivered by a two-judge bench comprising Court of Appeal President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando, following petitions filed by Sri Lanka men’s Test and ODI captains Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka, together with members of the national women’s cricket team.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Abeysuriya said the writ order invalidated, as a matter of law, the decision by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue in October 2024 to classify national cricketers as employees of Sri Lanka Cricket and on that basis levy Advance Personal Income Tax on them.
However, the court emphasized that its ruling would not prevent the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue from making any future decision on the tax status of the cricketers.
The petitions challenged the Inland Revenue authorities’ decision to treat national cricketers as employees for tax purposes.
During the hearing, counsel for the players, Nishan Premaratna, argued that national cricketers were not permanent employees of Sri Lanka Cricket and instead worked under contractual arrangements.
He further submitted that the players were not entitled to employment-related benefits such as contributions to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF), supporting their position that they should not be classified as employees for the purpose of the disputed tax assessment.
During the proceedings, the cricketers also argued that they did not receive employment benefits typically associated with an employer-employee relationship, including Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF), gratuity, annual leave and maternity leave.
They further claimed that professional contractual payments had been withheld for several months as a result of the retrospective application of the IRD decision.
More than 50 contracted national cricketers, both male and female, placed their grievances before the Court through affidavits, according to counsel representing the players.
Deputy Solicitor General Manohara Jayasinghe, appearing for the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, argued that the decision to impose the tax was lawful.
After considering submissions from both sides, the Court of Appeal issued the writ order nullifying the disputed decision.
The ruling does not amount to a blanket exemption from income tax for national cricketers, as the court specifically stated that it would not affect any future determination by the Inland Revenue authorities on the matter.
-ENCL
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