112 single screens get GSTIN

BENGALURU: Ending uncertainty over single-screen theatres in the city, a majority of the exhibitors on Thursday got provisional Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration preventing them from going out of

businee from Saturday .

Commercial

tax department

officials said 112 of 124 single-screens were given provisional GST Tax Identification Number (GSTIN). They can now run as usual. Many of 740 single-screen theatres across Karnataka, too, have got the provisional GSTIN.

Theatre owners, who pay entertainment tax in the present

VAT regime

, are required to migrate to GST by getting GSTIN, without which they cannot sell tickets. But none of Bengaluru's single-screen theatre owners could get registration for want of accuracy in records to prove their ownership till Wednesday .

“Thankfully , most of the theatre owners returned with authentic documents and 112 theatres got provisional GSTIN by Friday evening,“ said K Raman, joint commercial tax commissioner in-charge of entertainment tax. The GST system mandates theatre owners to print GSTIN on the tickets and show the tax components including state and Central GST.

The theatre licences are issued to the owners under Cinematography Act and many of the original owners have sub-leased their theatres to others. The GSTN portal had rejected the application filed by the lessees. Even the applications of the original owners were rejected with the portal finding discrepancies in the details uploaded.

“We helped owners in coordinating with the lessees to ready the required documents, and it worked,“ said Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president Sa Ra Govindu.

The provisional GSTIN will later be converted into permanent number, said the officials.

Theatres without GSTIN

Single-screen theatres that are yet to get provisional GSTIN include Triveni on

Kempegowda Road

, Parimala and Predeep in KR Market area, Narendra on Hosur Road, Vinayaka in Varthur, and Venkateswara in Kengeri.

Tax rates applicable

Movie tickets costing less than Rs 100 attract 18% GST and above Rs 100 attract 28% GST. The rates are levied irrespective of film language, including Kannada.