GST May End Tax Free Regime Of Kannada Films

Kannada films have been enjoying the exemption from entertainment tax since 1996. The then CM HD Deve Gowda also relieved Tulu, Kodava, Konkani and Lambani languages flick from paying the tax, but not now with new Goods & Services Tax (GST), it will be imposed on Sandalwood as well. This has worried many filmmakers and they are planning to come together with Tamil Nadu to fight together ET as it offers tax free movies.

It was about 110 per cent a few decades earlier, though, it was bought down to 50 per cent and then 30 per cent. Now, this 30 per cent is levied on only non-Kannada films in Karnataka. The taxes are applied on home language flicks in neighbouring states, as in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the rates are 7 and 14 per cent. For Kerala it is uniform, 25 per cent.

“There are various slabs in the GST. The minimum is five per cent. We are aiming for it. If you see ET across India, six states exempt their own languages from ET. Another 10 states do not have ET on films. So a large number of films are not paying ET at all,” revealed former president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), KV Chandrashekar. Now, with GST it is likely that uniform entertainment tax will be levied on every state in the country. 

Source: ticketnew.com