EIM68401 - Tax treatment of professional cricketers: collections for outstanding performances

Under the rules or custom of certain cricket leagues, a professional cricketer employed by a league club may be entitled to have a collection taken among the spectators at a match in the course of which he gives an outstanding performance, for example, scores 50 runs in an innings or achieves a hat trick. Receipts from such a collection are taxable as profits of the employment (see Moorhouse v Dooland (36TC1)).

You should make enquiries only where there is reason to believe that such collections are taken. In cases where receipts are handed to the player by an officer or authorised representative of the club, the secretary of the club should be informed that tax must be deducted under PAYE In other cases, the secretary should be asked to provide annually, where practicable, a list of recipients and the amounts received.