Case Law Details
Mayajaal Entertainment Limited Vs Commercial Tax Officer (Madras High Court)
The present Appeals are squarely covered by the decision of this Court in PVR Ltd. v. CTO (W.A.No.685, 694 to to 697 decided on 15.10.20020) which dealt with the question of taxability of the Entertainment Tax on the Online Booking Charges and this Court held that the same are not subject to tax under the provisions of the the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939.
2. The relevant portion of the said Judgement dated 15.10.2020 is quoted below for ready reference:
“21. In the case before us, the test for levy of Entertainment Taxis the entry into the entertainment and payment for that purpose. Entertainment Tax was a State subject and before the said levy of Entertainment Tax being subsumed under the GST Laws enforced in the country with effect from 1 July 2017, was the payment for admission, which as per the definition given in the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939, as amended from time to time in Section 3(7)(c) of the Act is that the payment should be necessary condition to be complied with for gaining entry into the place for entertainment. The payment made for any other purpose connected with such entertainment will be taxable under the said Act, only if the person concerned is required to make such payment as a condition for entry. Obviously, the online booking charges or internet handling charges, as the name given by some other cinema theater owners is not a mandatory payment for gaining entry into the cinema hall. It is an additional payment for extra or other facility provided by the Cinema hall owner. With the advent of internet, much after the said enactment of 1939, even though amended from time to time, the said Act could not have provided for levy of tax on the service of internet provided by the cinema owner. The same could be a subject matter of levy of Service Tax by the Parliament in the erstwhile law regime, prior to GST, with effect from 1 July 2017. But the Entertainment Tax being a tax collected by State for the Local Administration or Municipal Administration, is leviable only on cost of ticket which entitles a person to gain entry into the cinema hall or theatre.
22. Therefore, there is considerable force in the submission made by Mr.Easwar, learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Assessee. Unless such internet charges or online booking charges are uniformly charged from all the customers for having entry into the cinema hall, such extra service charges taken by the cinema owner to the extent of Rs.30/- per ticket could not be made subject matter of Entertainment Tax. Even though such payment along with the cost of ticket at the rate of Rs.190.78 in particular illustration, was part of the overall cost to the customer. The test is attending the entertainment or continuing to attend the entertainment. The mandatory requirement to fall within Section 3(7)(c) of the Act is that a person is required to make, as a condition to attend or continue to attend the entertainment. There is no doubt that booking of a cinema ticket on online basis is not a mandatory condition for all cinema goers, and this is not only optional but altogether a separate facility provided to all on the Web portal of the cinema hall owners. Therefore, the words in the clause 3(7)(c) of the Act, “any payment for any purpose whatsoever connected with an entertainment”, in addition to the payment for any for admission to entertainment in clause “(c)”, will have to be read in conjunction and not without the context of the words, “which a person is required (mandatorily) to make as a condition of attending or continuing to attend the entertainment”. These words are not superfluous or without meaning and in fact, they provide the bedrock condition for applying Section 3(7)(c) of the Act. Unless such a conditional payment for any purpose is integrally connected with the “entertainment” is uniformly and mandatorily chargeable from all, who want to have entry in the place of cinema hall, in our opinion, Section 3(7)(c) cannot cover such payment made by the customer, for availing the facility of online booking of tickets.
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