Entertainment Tax Department, Delhi

I am from the entertainment industry and we do live events like standup comedy and theatre plays in and around Delhi-NCR.

We are a commercial establishment and we pay 15% entertaiment tax per ticket.

Just for your knowledge if an organization is a society or an NGO, they are exempted from this tax for tickets priced upto Rs 500.

After the New Delhi Government was formed, things have certainly improved in the department and we are able to get the No Obejection Certificate (NOC) for a performances thru online submission within a day or so. This has been a great step towards removal of corruption in getting ones NOC.

However, there are a few issues still that which lead to corruption in the department.

a) We have to go and get our tickets verified from an area inspector who may not necessarily be sitting in the entertainment tax department office. We have to contact him and meet him outside (wherever he is available) and once there is an interaction with the inspector, it leads to him demanding money to sign and stamp the tickets etc.

b) Post the shows, we have to claim refund of our security deposit ( it is 100% tax on the occupancy of the auditorium ). The refund processing is required incase there have been some unsold tickets for that day.

This process again is offline and we have to interact with office staff and inspectors in the entertainment tax department to get things signed and approved which again leads to them demanding money.

Steps for improvement in this area :
i) We should be asked to deposit tickets to be signed at the counter in the entertainment tax department and we should automatically get the same stamped and signed, the next day after necessary verifications. Incase there is any issue, the same should be notified to us so that the corrections can be done. This will help in avoiding interaction with the inspector at all.

ii) The application for refund claims should be done online and the refund should be processed within a stipulated time without too much interaction with the department staff like they have already done for issuing of the NOC.

iii) A regular checking by the flying squad of the department can be done at each event to ensure that the organizers and abiding by the rules and regulations and necessary action can be taken against those who are not abiding by the rules etc. ( this is already being done in some venues )

Hope this can reach the right people in the Delhi government and some necessary action may be taken so that these issues get sorted soon.

Thanks more