The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are collectively working on the tax issue in order to deliver a world-class event in the 2021 T20 World Cup to be hosted by India.

"The ICC and BCCI have been working in partnership to address the issue of tax exemptions for ICC events that is a requirement of the host agreement signed by all parties at the beginning of the cycle in 2015 and this work is ongoing," the ICC spokesperson told ANI.

"There are certain timelines within the agreements that we collectively work towards to ensure we can deliver successful world-class events and continue to invest in the sport of cricket. In addition to this the ICC Board agreed to clear timelines for the resolution of the tax issues which we are guided by," the spokesperson added.

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Reports from ESPNCricinfo had suggested that ICC had told BCCI in a flurry of blunt emails, to provide an unconditional confirmation by May 18, 2020, that a solution had been found to a longstanding issue in coordination with the Indian government.

BCCI requested an extension till June 30 citing COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for invoking the force majeure clause. ICC rejected the request.

This has been an ongoing issue since the 2016 World T20, in which the ICC suffered between USD 20-30 million losses after the BCCI could not secure a tax exemption.

In February 2018, the ICC warned BCCI that it could lose out on the hosting rights of the 20212 T20 World Cup and 2023 ICC World Cup, given that the world cricket body could lose up to $100 million if BCCI failed to get tax exemptions from the Indian government, as per ESPNCricinfo reports.

(ANI inputs)