Wednesday, February 20, 2019

GST Officials Continue To Haunt Mahesh Babu

It looks like the GST woes will not leave Mahesh Babu anytime soon. A couple of months ago, the GST Commissionerate had blocked the Superstar’s bank accounts over an alleged non-payment of service tax of Rs 18.5 lakhs. In a statement, Mahesh said that the matter has been in the court and that he has always been a law-abiding citizen.

Now, Mahesh’s newly launched world-class superplex AMB Cinemas has come under the GST department’s scanner. The GST anti-profiteering wing, Ranga Reddy district, on Tuesday served a showcause notice on AMB Cinemas for violating GST norms.

In a raid conducted on the multiplex, the GST anti-evasion team found out that AMB Cinemas had not reduced the ticket prices even after the central government’s notification. Furthermore, AMB Cinemas had pocketed Rs 35 lakh in January 2019 while violating the anti-profiteering clause in the CGST Act. The multiplex authorities have been asked to cough up Rs 35 lakhs with immediate effect. The GST officials were authorised to book a case against AMB Cinemas under Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017.

Meanwhile, the AMB Cinemas’ spokesperson maintained that they had not received any notice from GST officials. He also said that they had only obtained a court order fixing the ticket price as per new GST guidelines. The new ticket rates would be effective from February 22nd.

The GST Council had reduced the GST over ticket prices and the new rates became effective from January 1st. For tickets costing more than Rs 100, the tax has been reduced from 28% to 18%. And for the tickets which are of Rs 100 or less, the GST rate was pegged at 12% instead of 18% earlier.

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