BCCI might have to pay INR 906 Crore tax for hosting ICC T20 World Cup 2021

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) looks in trouble owing to the current tax issue with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Indian government. It is reported that the Indian cricket board might have to pay a whopping amount of INR 906 Cr for hosting the highly-anticipated ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in in October and November if they fail to get tax exemption from the government.

According to the rules laid out by the world cricketing body, the host member has to sign an agreement before staging the marquee ICC event that binds the host party to secure a full tax exemption. However, until now BCCI has failed to grant the permission from the Indian government and has already missed a couple of deadlines, December 31, 2019, and December 31, 2020. The next and last deadline is in February 2021.

Even if the government agrees for a partial exemption of tax, the board will have to pay at least Rs 227 crore tax, if it wants to host the tournament. ICC has given final two options to BCCI. One is to reallocate the whole tournament to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was decided as a backup option and the second is to meet the tax liabilities, which could be a minimum of Rs 226.58 crore and a high of Rs 906.33 crore.

The office-bearers aren’t at the same page regarding the paying of tax by BCCI

This issue was discussed in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) hosted by BCCI on December 24 in Ahmedabad but the office bearers couldn’t reach a conclusive decision as the members were divided into two groups on whether BCCI should pay the tax if the government doesn’t grant exemption or not.

“The matter was discussed for 10 to 15 minutes, after which the house authorized the BCCI office-bearers to deal with the issue. But what was evident was that all the office-bearers were not on the same page vis-a-vis the question of whether the BCCI should forego the hosting rights if the government doesn’t grant full tax exemption.

“Some members said it was a matter of prestige — izzat ka sawal hai — that India should pay the tax and host the World Cup if it comes to that,” the official told as quoted by Times of India.