Amid D Gukesh's Winning Rs 11 Crore Prize Money At World Chess Championship, Why Is Social Media Congratulating Income Tax Department?

How much will D Gukesh have to pay the Income Tax department as tax for his prize money of Rs 11 crore?

New Delhi: D Gukesh made history last week by becoming the youngest-ever World Champion in chess, beating Ding Liren of China in the 14-game match. The 18-year-old from Chennai became the 18th World Champion in the over century-long history of chess and the youngest after beating Garry Kasparov's record of winning the title at the age of 22 and heralding the arrival of a new king on the chess horizon.

With this win, Gukesh pocketed prize money of $1.35 million (approx Rs 11.45 crore) while Ding Liren took $1.15 million (approx Rs 9.75 crore) from the total prize fund of US$2.5 million.

Meanwhile, as the nature of the social media is, a barrage of comments poured in on X (formerly Twitter), wittily congratulating the Income Tax department for Gukesh's winning money. The reason, social media comments are flooding on X, is none other than the tax component that forms a part of Gukesh's prize money, which the netizens are calculating to be hefty. 

Several users have since tagged @nsitharaman, @nsitharamanoffc, @IncomeTaxIndia, and @FinMinIndia on X, saying that the I-T department comes out as a winner, thus getting Rs 5 crore as income tax money from Gukesh's prize money.

Here are some hilarious comments congratulating the Income Tax Department on Gukesh's prize money that have topped the social media 

Congrats to the Indian Tax dept for winning the World Chess Championship and earning 5 crores out of the 11 crore prize money. — Gabbar (@GabbbarSingh) December 13, 2024

The Indian Tax Department is always a step ahead, making sure they get their share of the winnings! Even in chess, they manage to checkmate the earnings.
Earned 5 crore out of 11 crore. #IncomeTax #DGukesh pic.twitter.com/H9Qbo27lLf — Sarvesh Yadav (@Savy23_09) December 13, 2024

Congrats to the Indian Tax dept for winning the World Chess Championship and earning 5 crores out of the 11 crore prize money. — Gabbar (@GabbbarSingh) December 13, 2024

Tn Govt : 5cr award for Gukesh!

Madam : Tax to dena padega!!

_ — Jitendra Jain (@jitendrajain) December 13, 2024

#GukeshD will have to pay more than 42% of the 11 crore prize money as income tax#GukeshWorldChampion pic.twitter.com/HBySYrV2YB — Mridul Sharma (@msharma_1) December 13, 2024

Gukesh Will Pay _4.67 Crore As Tax From His World Championship Winning Amount Of 11 Crore _ pic.twitter.com/9NiQHHp59V — Kamran (@CitizenKamran) December 15, 2024

Gukesh wins ₹11 crore after a chess championship.

Now the government charges 42% tax on this and takes away almost ₹5 crore.

You know who is the real grandmaster!! — Neha Nagar (@nehanagarr) December 15, 2024

Meanwhile, Gukesh has thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin for supporting him in his chess journey, reported PTI.