Salman Khan's box office success makes taxmen happy with triple payout

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who just delivered the biggest box office grosser of all time with his latest film Bodyguard, has also trumped his rivals in the Hindi filmdom with a near threefold increase in tax payout.

Salman, who has had several run-ins with the law, paid Rs5 crore in advance tax for the July-September quarter, Income Tax Department sources said on Thursday.

In the corresponding period last year, the actor had paid only Rs2 crore in advance tax. The 45-year-old star has been delivering blockbusters by strategically coinciding their release with Eid for the past two years.

Salman's arch rival Shah Rukh Khan, who has not had any big releases in the recent past, saw his tax outgo remain flat at Rs5 crore, the sources added.

Akshay Kumar, another big name in Bollywood, is also estimated to have paid Rs 5 crore in advance tax payments, up from Rs4 crore, they said.

Actor-producer Aamir Khan, whose small-budgeted edgy movie Delhi Belly released this quarter and was received well, saw a Rs50 lakh rise in advance tax outgo at Rs4.5 crore, they said.

New kid on the block Ranbir Kapoor's advance tax outgo stood at a flat Rs2.5 crore, the sources said.

Advance tax payment is a system of staggered payment of income taxes so that high tax-paying individuals or firms do not pile up tax liabilities towards the end of the year. The payment for September quarter accounts for 30% of the total collection payout for an individual or company.

In the first quarter it is 15%, followed by 30% each in the next two and 25% in the fourth quarter.