Whenever there is talk of cricket in future, the first person to be named will be Sachin Tendulkar. There will hardly be any person who has not heard the name of Sachin Tendulkar. But do you know Sachin is an actor? Shocked? We are not saying this, but Sachin himself has said it. Read this story to know why Sachin called him an actor rather than a cricketer.
In 2011, when the entire India was celebrating the cricket world cup victory, God Of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar was stuck in an income tax dispute. That year Sachin had earned ₹5.92 crore in the form of foreign currency from his deals with ESPN Star Sports, Pepsico and VISA in 2011. Meanwhile, during the annual tax deductions, he was charged ₹1.77 Crore.
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However, there were a couple of questions that baffled the tax department of India:
1. Whether Sachin Tendulkar earned this money as a cricketer or an actor?
2. Whether the tax deduction claim exercises Sachin’s profession?
While Sachin also claimed that his income fell under tax deduction since 1997, in case he was not treated as an actor, he should be considered an artist at least, since he was a ‘public performer’.
While this might come as a shocker as Sachin also proclaimed that he was a non-professional cricketer besides actually being an actor and a model. As for his income from cricket and the BCCI, he put it in the other income category.
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Meanwhile, the Assessing Officer and the commissioner disagreed with Sachin and explained what being a cricketer actually means. The Assessing Officer further revealed that his incomes from advertisements and endorsements were due to him being a cricketer, not an actor. Thereby refused to put him under the artist category and ruled him out of attaining tax deductions based on the latter. However, the counsel on Sachin’s behalf continued to insist that he be treated as an artist, besides putting forward the fact that anyone can have two professions at a time.
Meanwhile, the ITAT ruled in favor of Sachin, deeming him an artist, besides focusing on the fact that a person was bound to have two professions at a time. Finally in the end the ITAT took the decision that Sachin is an artist. And he should get the benefit of deduction.
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It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Sachin handled this income-tax dispute in the same manner as he used to play straight drive.
