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Join UsAkshay Kumar paid the highest advance tax – of Rs. 4.5 crore – while Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan came in next, paying approximately Rs. 3.5 crore each. Salman Khan followed with a payment of Rs. 2.5 crore, and the rear of Bollywood’s Top 8 was brought up by Saif Ali Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor. The last named paid Rs. 1.8 crore as advance tax.
The Supreme Court issued notices to the union information & broadcasting ministry and 14 states on a petition challenging the decision of state governments granting tax rebate to regional anguage films and levying a higher rate of entertainment tax on Hindi films. In 2007, the apex court had ruled that such discriminatory taxes on non-Telugu films in Andhra Pradesh were illegal but the state government circumvented that order by introducing different slabs for films ‘produced in the state’ and those ‘produced outside the state’.
The state governments of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan provided relief in entertainment tax to cinemas in the state, exempting tax on tickets priced at Rs. 50 and under. Maharashtra increased the tax-free service charge leviable on movie tickets from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 for ordinary and air-cooled cinemas and from Rs. 4 to Rs. 6 for air-conditioned cinemas. Also, entertainment tax on awards functions organised only for invitees, was reduced from 25% to 12.5% of the total sponsorship amount received for the function.
The stamp duty payable on film agreements in Maharashtra was hiked. In the case of agreements for value not exceeding Rs. 10 lakh, the rate was increased from 0.1% to 0.25% while for agreements in excess of Rs. 10 lakh, the rate of stamp duty was hiked to 0.5%.
