KBL to Decide on Gas Corp's Ricardo Ratliffe Amid Tax Dispute in Finance Committee Tomorrow

As the 10 professional basketball teams are busy preparing for the 2026–2027 season, the final decision on whether Ricardo Ratliffe, who has been a subject of controversy for the Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, will be registered is finally set to be made.

The KBL will hold its 32nd term's 2nd Finance Committee meeting at 10:00 a.m. on August 12 at the KBL Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The core agenda of this Finance Committee meeting is the review of the "qualification of the registration-pending player from the Daegu Korea Gas Corporation," effectively serving as a showdown to determine whether Ratliffe will be allowed to play in the upcoming season.

Korea Gas Corporation previously signed a renewal contract with Ratliffe and submitted the documents to the league, but the KBL withheld his player registration.

The core of this issue involves approximately 398 million won in comprehensive income taxes incurred in 2024 when Ratliffe was with the Busan KCC.

Through a board of directors meeting in May 2024, the KBL changed Ratliffe's status from a naturalized player to a regular foreign player, resolving that the income tax for that year would be borne by the "final recruiting club."

Consequently, Korea Gas Corporation, which acquired Ratliffe for the 2025–2026 season, became obligated to pay the tax. However, conflict escalated after Ratliffe paid the tax himself and filed a lawsuit against KCC, the contracting party at the time, demanding the return of unjust enrichment.

Korea Gas Corporation has pushed back, arguing that they are not the subject obligated to pay and that taking special action is difficult while related lawsuits are ongoing.

In response, the KBL held a Finance Committee meeting in January of this year and imposed a 30 million won fine on Korea Gas Corporation for "failure to implement the board of directors' resolution."

Subsequently, on April 30, the league warned that the team's first-round draft pick would be revoked if the unpaid amount was not settled by the contract renewal deadline, but Korea Gas Corporation ultimately did not back down.

As the league's directives went unfulfilled, the KBL withheld the registration of Ratliffe's renewed contract, leaving Korea Gas Corporation awaiting the deliberation of the Finance Committee.

With foreign players from each club arriving successively and entering full-scale team training, Korea Gas Corporation needs Ratliffe's future to be determined as soon as possible to untangle this complicated situation.

If he passes this Finance Committee deliberation, Korea Gas Corporation can proceed with Ratliffe's entry procedures. However, if his registration is ultimately rejected, the team will inevitably face major disruptions in their season preparation as they would have to scramble to find a replacement foreign player.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.