World Cup 2011: Have Pune hotels and clubs paid tax?

Hotels and clubs in Pune have yet to pay entertainment tax before screening the World Cup cricket matches on big screens. The entertainment duty branch, working under the district collectorate, so far has not received any tax payment.

Speaking to DNA, entertainment duty officer Geetanjali Shirke said, “During the football World Cup last year, seven city hotels paid tax. The hotels paid up after our action against three errant hotels that screened the matches on big screens without paying tax.”

“We appeal to all clubs and hotels in the city to pay entertainment tax if they want to show the cricket matches on big screens,” she said.

Clearing doubts among those who have already paid the tax for this year for ESPN channel during the football World Cup, Shirke said, “If these hotels or clubs screen cricket matches shown on channels other than ESPN, then they will have to pay tax.”

The entertainment duty officer scrutinises the subscription payment receipt of the hotels for a particular channel and charges 20% on that amount as duty, Shirke said.

Last year, the entertainment duty office raided three city hotels and collected fines of Rs30,000, after which seven hotels paid taxes to the tune of around Rs3 lakh, to avoid penalties.