Section 211 — Tax on non-resident sportsmen or sports associations. Successor to s.115BBA of the 1961 Act.
Section 211 is in Chapter XIII — Determination of Tax in Special Cases, which runs from section 190 to section 235.
Sub-section (1) identifies three assessees and applies a Table of rates. Clause (a) covers a sportsman, including an athlete, who is not a citizen of India and is a non-resident, whose total income includes income from participation in India in any game or sport — other than a game the winnings from which are taxable as specified in section 194(1) (Table: Sl. No. 1) — or from advertisement, or from contribution of articles on any game or sport in India to newspapers, magazines or journals. Clause (b) covers a non-resident sports association or institution receiving any amount guaranteed to be paid to it in relation to such a game or sport played in India. Clause (c) covers a non-Indian-citizen non-resident entertainer, on income from his performance in India.
Tax is then computed at the rate in column C of the Table on the corresponding income in column B: Table entry 1 charges the clause (a), (b) or (c) income at 20%; Table entry 2 charges total income as reduced by that income at the rates in force.
Sub-section (2) bars any deduction for expenditure or allowance under any provision of the Act in computing that income. Sub-section (3) removes the return obligation: no return under section 263(1) is necessary if total income during the tax year consisted only of sub-section (1) income and the tax deductible at source under Chapter XIX-B has been deducted from it.
Visiting sportsmen, sports bodies and entertainers earn in India for short engagements and leave, so the Act collects a fixed proportion of the gross receipt rather than attempting a net computation that would need records and a return long after the person has gone. Sub-section (2) makes the base gross, and sub-section (3) completes the design by treating deduction at source as final compliance where the visitor has no other Indian income.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate on income of a non-resident sportsman, sports association or entertainer | 20% | Applied to the income referred to in sub-section (1)(a), (b) or (c) | Sub-section (1), Table Sl. No. 1 |
| Rate on the rest of total income | Rates in force | Applied to total income as reduced by the income referred to in clause (a), (b) or (c) | Sub-section (1), Table Sl. No. 2 |
The 20% applies to the receipt, not to a profit: sub-section (2) denies every deduction, so travel, agents' fees and training costs give no relief. Citizenship and residence are both tested for the individual limbs, but clause (b) tests only non-residence of the association or institution. The Table has two rows because an assessee may have other Indian income, taxed at the rates in force rather than at 20%. Sub-section (3) is conditional and both conditions must hold, so any other Indian income, or a failure by the payer to deduct, brings the return obligation back.
A non-resident foreign athlete is paid Rs. 60 lakh for a tournament in India and Rs. 20 lakh for an advertisement shot here, and spends Rs. 15 lakh on travel and coaching. Tax is Rs. 16 lakh, being 20% of the whole Rs. 80 lakh; the expenditure gives no relief. If that is his only Indian income and the payers have deducted at source, sub-section (3) means he need not file a return.
It is applied by the Indian payer — an organiser, broadcaster or advertiser — when deducting tax at source from the guarantee or fee, and it appears in the withholding certificate the visitor receives. Where sub-section (3) is satisfied the assessee never files a return, so the section is met only through that deduction.
No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed under any provision of this Act in computing the income referred to in sub-section (1).
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the circulars index.
