Court of Appeal invalidates decision to impose personal income tax on cricketers

01-Sep-2026

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The Court of Appeal has issued a writ quashing the decision taken by the Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department to impose personal income tax on players of the Sri Lanka national cricket teams.

The order was issued while delivering judgment on petitions filed jointly by Sri Lanka's ODI and Test cricket captains Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva, together with players of the Sri Lanka women's cricket team, challenging the decision of the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue.

The case was taken up for hearing on August 31, before a two-member bench comprising Court of Appeal President Justice Rohanta Abeysooriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando, when the judgment was delivered.

Announcing the judgment, Court of Appeal President Justice Rohanta Abeysooriya stated that a writ would be issued declaring invalid in law the decision taken by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue to impose personal income tax on the petitioners on the basis that they were employees of Sri Lanka Cricket.

However, the judge pointed out that the court's order was being issued without affecting any fresh decisions that may be taken by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue on this matter in the future.

When the petitions had previously been taken up for consideration, counsel for the petitioners, Nishan Premaratne, had submitted that members of the Sri Lanka national cricket teams were not permanent employees of Sri Lanka Cricket.

He had pointed out that his clients worked with Sri Lanka Cricket solely on a contractual basis and were not entitled to benefits such as the Employees' Provident Fund or Employees' Trust Fund.

Meanwhile, Deputy Solicitor General Manohara Jayasinghe, appearing for the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, had submitted that the decision taken by the Commissioner General to impose tax on the petitioners was lawful.

After considering the submissions made by both parties, the bench delivered its judgment on August 30.