Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma grilled by service tax officials for more than 8 hours

It was an unexpected day for Ram Gopal Varma, one of the most eminent filmmakers in Bollywood. On Wednesday he was paid a surprise visit from service tax officials at his Millat Nagar office in Andheri. The visit started from 2 pm to be continued till 10.30 pm.

The director came under the scanner of the tax officials after they noticed that his name doesn’t feature on the list of 132 celebrities who were issued notices for non-payment of tax which is highly questionable. Furthermore the officials said that no records of his production houses are registered with them which according to the director have already been done in Hyderabad. But the director’s claims have been proved false following the tax raid at his office.

According to the officials, his two gigantic production houses Dream Force Productions and Dream Force Enterprises, have no records in the tax department. A tax official said to a daily, on condition of anonymity, "We will scrutinise each of his projects to find out the amount of service and professional tax he has evaded. Film producers are liable to pay service tax as they sell their films and their satellite rights. Varma, being a director scriptwriter as well, is also liable to pay professional tax. We are recording his statement."The service tax officials complained that Varma tried to escape tax by shifting his office to Hyderabad after his films proved financially unsuccessful since 2008. The raid was planned to confirm the tax department’s doubts. An insider reported that Varma is cooperating with the officials.