Beware all hotels, pubs and clubs of the city who are screening the ICC cricket World Cup matches on big screens without paying the mandatory entertainment tax.
Beware all hotels, pubs and clubs of the city who are screening the ICC cricket World Cup matches on big screens without paying the mandatory entertainment tax.
The Pune entertainment tax department has drawn up a list of such commercial establishments to carry out surprise raids to nab them red handed. The raids would be carried out after the second round of the championship that begins on March 23.
The head of the department in the district, Geetanjali Shirke, told DNA that under the rules, hotels, pubs and clubs screening matches on big screens have to pay 20% of the amount that these commercial establishments charge.
“These hotels, clubs and others directly negotiate with service providers like ESPN, Star Sports and likewise. The amount paid is negotiable on an average that ranges from Rs50,000 to Rs1 lakh, which is paid to the service provider. If such hotels show matches on big screens, it is mandatory for them to pay 20% of the amount that they have paid to buy the services,” Shirke said.
The department has appealed to hotels, clubs and pubs to pay the tax to avoid any action. At present, only two commercial establishments have deposited entertainment tax for screening the World Cup matches.
“We have our own network of informers and, based on concrete information, we shall be conducting surprise raids on such commercial establishments,” she stated, adding that hotels and entertainment institutions that have already paid such tax will be spared of punitive action.
Interestingly, it was during the soccer World Cup last year that the department came to know that these commercial establishments are screening the matches live on big screens.
“We took action against three big hotels and imposed fines on them. After that other hotels and clubs came forward on their own and paid the tax,” Shirke stated, but refused to identify those three hotels.
Considering that Pune is one of the most developed districts in the state and entertainment activities are being organised throughout the year, the department keeps a close tab to see if that there is any evasion of entertainment tax.
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