Corporation imposes 10% tax on cinema houses

CHENNAI: The city Corporation has announced 10 per cent entertainment tax on cinema theatres for Tamil movies and 20 per cent for other language movies. The civic body issued notices to a few theatres in the city saying the new tax regime will be applicable from September 27.

It is not immediately clear if the new tax rate will lead to an increase in ticket prices. The theatre owners association said they would discuss the matter among the members before taking a stand on the new tax rates or revising the ticket prices.

Soon after the GST rollout in July, the State government had announced that theatres, in addition to the GST, have to pay 30 per cent entertainment tax to their respective local bodies. After more than 1,000 cinema halls closed in protest for four days in protest against the 30 per cent entertainment tax, the government announced temporary suspension of the local taxes.

The theatre owners did not immediately respond to the new tax rates, which are much less than the previous rates. “We are aware of such notices and we haven’t taken a stand on the issue yet,” Abhirami Ramanathan, president of the Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce said. Theatre owners would discuss the new tax rates on October 4.

The notice issued by the Corporation says that for old movies, the tax rate would be 7 per cent for Tamil and 14 per cent for the other language movies. The taxes would be calculated based on the GST returns filed by theatre owners before the Commercial Tax department.