Navtej Kohli

stumbles upon yet another non cricketing issue faced by our
cricketers.This time it is the Australian tax men for a change!!Read on.

A BCCI team, including tax consultant PB
Srinivasan, is flying to Australia to resolve the Indian players’ tax
problem on the current tour.

The other members of the team include the Board treasurer N Srinivasan and secretary Niranjan Shah.

“I am leaving for Australia tonight and will be joined there by Mr
Srinivasan and our tax consultant PB Srinivasan. We will discuss the
issue of tax asked to be paid by our players with Cricket Australia
officials and we are onfident the matter will be sorted out, BCCI
secretary Niranjan Shah said on Monday.

The problem has arisen due to the recent change in tax laws in
Australia which make it mandatory for the visiting sportspersons to pay
tax on money earned in the country.

The Indian players would be earning match fees for playing Tests and
ODIs during the ongoing tour and according to media reports the tax
burden collectively would be around USD 1.5 million.

The officials have been asked to deal with the problem by BCCI chief
Sharad Pawar, who has also asked them to utilize the visit to honour
Sourav Ganguly, who is set to join the short list of 100-Test Indian
club members when he turns out in the opening Test against Australia
starting at the MCG on December 26.

Ganguly will be presented with a silver salver by the board, Shah
said, adding he would also take the opportunity to discuss the
Australians tour to India for a full-Test return series for the
Border-Gavaskar Trophy with the CA officials.