The subject of the work is income taxation in the Republic of Croatia and its application to athletes, whether they are amateurs or professionals and coaches, while showing different ways of taxing their income. The aim of this work is to investigate and clarify the taxation of income and monetary receipts in terms of sports scholarships and awards received by athletes and coaches in the Republic of Croatia and to conduct an analyze of the way professional athletes and coaches are taxed. Income tax is currently one of the most important types of tax in any modern tax system. The determination, calculation and payment of income tax in the Republic of Croatia are governed by the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Ordinance. The work also conducted empirical research on a total sample of 52 people in order to examine their knowledge of income tax as well as ways of generating their income and its taxation. The analysis of the results of the respondents answers revealed extremely poor knowledge of income tax in the Republic of Croatia, as well as the most common way of earning income through self-employment, whether they are athletes or coaches elected by the subject of taxation on that basis. The respondents also believe that the income tax rate in the Republic of Croatia is extreme.