Virat Kohli highest tax payer among Indian sports celebs at Rs 66 cr: Report

There are no prizes for guessing as to who could be the highest taxpayer among Indian sportspersons. A Fortune India report says Virat Kohli, the former India captain and master batter, has paid Rs 66 crores in taxes for the financial year 2023-24, making him the top tax-payer among Indian sportspersons.

Following Kohli is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who despite retiring from international cricket in 2020 and currently only playing in the IPL for the Chennai Super Kings, paid  Rs 38 crore in taxes last year – lying in seventh position on the list. Now 43, the two-time World Cup winning captain is still extremely in demand in the endorsement sector.

Shah Rukh Khan tops the list of highest tax paying celebrities with Rs 92 crores, followed by Vijay Setupathi – the Tamil actor – who paid Rs 80 scores.

A study early this year showed Kohli’s net worth in the region of Rs 1000 crore ($ 127 million). The 35-year-old sporting icon’s wealth is an aggregate of his earnings from cricket, including contracts with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and his participation in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He had been a one-franchise man throughout his IPL career, stepping down from captaincy in 2022 and now earns in the region of Rs 15 crores annually from them.

This apart, Kohli’s income is enhanced by a plethora of endorsements with major global brands and is one of the highest paid stars on Instagram. The catalog of brands endorsed by Kohli include several multi-national brands like Puma, Audi and MRF. He also has a stake in several business ventures, including the fitness brand One8, which he co-founded in collaboration with Puma.

Interestingly enough, current India captain Rohit Sharma does not figure among the leading 15 taxpayers – but two retired cricket superstars feature prominently. Sachin Tendulkar is ninth in the list with a return of Rs 28 crores (jointly with Hrithik Roshan), while Sourav Ganguly has filed Rs 23 crores.

List of top 10 tax paying Indian celebrities

Shah Rukh Khan (Rs 92 crore)

Vijay Sethupathy (80 cr)

Salman Khan (75 crore)

Amitabh Bachchan (71 cr)

Virat Kohli (66 cr)

Ajay Devgn (42 cr)

MS Dhoni (38 cr)

Ranbir Kapoor (36 cr)

Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan (28 cr)

Kapil Sharma (26 cr)

Source: Fortune India