The Court of Appeal today issued a writ order quashing the decision of the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue to treat Sri Lankan national cricketers as ‘employees’ for the purpose of levying personal income tax, based on their contractual agreements. This was after considering petitions filed by several national cricketers.
The Court of Appeal had recently called for an explanation from the Inland Revenue Department on whether the recent amendments to the Land Revenue Act would affect the parties in this case, and subsequently announced this decision.
The legal dispute arose from the Inland Revenue Department’s decision to classify national players as ‘employees’ due to their contractual agreements with Sri Lanka Cricket.
In previous cases, lawyers representing the cricketers pointed out that they had been treated as independent service providers for over 15 years and that the Inland Revenue Department had arbitrarily reclassified them as employees for the purpose of collecting anticipated personal income tax.
The fact that a recent amendment to the Inland Revenue Act clearly states that players are ‘independent service providers’ who are not subject to anticipated personal income tax also attracted special attention in this case.
However, the Inland Revenue Department, represented by Deputy Solicitor General Manohara Jayasinghe, argued before the court that this amendment did not apply to the petitioners concerned and that the national cricketers should be considered employees due to their contractual relationship with the Sri Lanka Cricket.
The Court of Appeal, headed by President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice K. This writ petition was heard before a bench comprising Justice Priyantha Fernando.
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