AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (5) TMI 607
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.... available, both at the counter as well as over the internet. In the case of a person/customer opting for the latter, the facility of door delivery of tickets is also offered. The facility of online booking as well as door delivery, are offered at cost to the customer. 3. There was an inspection by the Enforcement Wing of the Commercial Taxes Department in the petitioners' places of business and the activities carried on in the multiplexes came under scrutiny. Based on the inspection, preassessment proposals were issued proposing to bring to tax online booking charges in terms of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 (in short 'TNVAT Act') and on the basis that the Entertainment Tax in terms of Section 3(7) (c) of the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939 (in short 'TNET Act') had not been remitted in respect of internet booking charges for various assessment periods. 4. The Assessing Officer notes that the ticket fare as fixed by the Government of Tamil Nadu was Rs. 120/- and Rs. 100/- in respect of two classes of seats. However, the petitioner had also charged a sum of Rs. 30/- per ticket as internet booking charges in cases where the booking had been made over the inte....
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....an be collected. 1. By presenting the booking confirmation number for the transaction at the ticket counter or the ticket dispensing kiosk at the respective location (wherever available) 2. By printing the ticket at home and presenting the print out at the ticket tearing point to gain admission to the selected movie session. The unique barcode on the ticket can only by used once. 3. Movie tickets purchased via this website are nonrefundable and are not available for exchange, unless required by law. 4. Where allocated seating applies to a session you have the choice of choosing your own seat on the website. Otherwise seat allocation for movie tickets purchased via this website is on a 'best available' basis and is carried out by a prescribed computed program. By purchasing movie tickets via this website you agree that:' 10. When a consumer accesses the website of SPI Cinemas and accepts the above conditions, the portal presents to him the available options for films and seating. Upon the making a choice, a ticket is issued, wherein the ticket amount is stated as either Rs. 100/- or Rs. 120/- as per the norms issued by the State Gov....
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....onsequently this forms the basis for computation of the quantum upon which tax would ultimately be remitted by an assessee. 14. The question before me is thus simply whether the online ticketing charges quoted by the petitioners would have to be included in the 'payment for admission' liable to tax. 15. According to the petitioners, it is only those charges that are intrinsically connected with the entertainment itself that are liable to tax. In the present case, the charge has a nexus with the facility of 'booking' and not with the entertainment provided. They point out that online booking is only one of the available modes by which a consumer may make a booking apart from booking counters located in multiplexes. If these were availed, then the question of online booking charges would not come into the picture at all. Thus the petitioners levy an additional charge upon a consumer only when he opts for the online facility and these charges are necessary to defray the expenses incurred by the petitioner for offering this facility to a consumer. They point out that the online booking facility is hosted by third party service providers, such as, BookMyShow and other similar port....
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....ertainment tax. Under the circumstances, it is not permissible for the respondents to take into consideration the amount collected by way of entry fee for the purpose of assessment of entertainment tax under the provisions of the Act. Moreover, for the reasons stated hereinabove, it is not permissible for the respondents to club the price of tickets for each individual http://www.judis.nic.in ride together for the purpose of computing the entitlement of the petitioner for availing of the benefit of the notification dated 4th September, 1992 issued in exercise of powers under Section 29(1) of the Act whereby entertainment is exempt from the purview of the Act if the admission rates for such entertainment does not exceed Rs. 6/-. In the facts of the case, when the admission rates for each individual ride did not exceed Rs. 6/-the petitioner could not have been denied the benefit of the said notification by resorting to an artificial method of computing the admission rate by taking into consideration the total income derived by the petitioner from the said amusement park, inclusive of admission tickets and dividing the same by the number of visitors and taking such figure to be the ad....
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.... the number of persons who have entered the amusement park. It is not the case of the respondents that the amusement park provides for amusements other than rides, viz., magic shows, and other kinds of entertainment which a person would be entitled to take the benefit of merely by entering the amusement park. Under the circumstances, by entering the amusement park simpliciter without enjoying of any of the rides, the concerned visitor does not get any entertainment. The amusement park per se is not a place of entertainment, like a cinema hall or a theatre where any person who enters the cinema hall or theatre gets to watch the film or the play. In a case like the present one, a person who pays for an entry ticket thereby is not entitled to avail of the benefit of any ride, he only avails of the facilities provided at the amusement park. For getting entertainment, viz. rides, the visitor is required to purchase a separate ticket. Moreover for every ride, be it of the same kind or a different one, a different ticket is required to be purchased. Thus a ticket for a ride is more or less akin to a cinema ticket on the basis of which one can watch one film only. If one wants to ....
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....tate of U.P. [(1999) 9 SCC 700] construing H. Anraj [(1986) 1 SCC 414 : 1986 SCC (Tax) 190] the Court said: (SCC p. 746, para 52) "52. So, we find three ingredients in the sale of lottery tickets, namely, (i) prize, (ii) chance, and (iii) consideration. So, when one purchases a lottery ticket, he purchases for a prize, which is by chance and the consideration is the price of the ticket." 45. The further distinction sought to be drawn in H. Anraj between the chance to win and the right to participate in the draw was in our opinion unwarranted. A lottery having been held to be in essence a chance for a prize, the sale of a lottery ticket can only be a sale of that chance. There is no other element. Every right can be sub-divided into lesser rights. When these lesser rights culminate in a legally recognizable right, it is the latter which defines the right. The right to participate in the draw is a part of the composite right of the chance to win and it does not feature separately in the definition of the word "lottery". It is an implicit part of the chance to win. It is not a different right. The separation is specious since neither of the rights can stand ....
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....9 Corpus Juris Secundum 621. Assuming that the investments in shares and in lands do not form part of the undertakings but are different subject matters, even then these would be brought within the purview of the vesting by reason of the above expressions. In this connection reference may be made to 76 Corpus Juris Secundum at pages 620 and 521 where it is stated that the term 'relate" is also defined as meaning to ring into association or connection with. It has been clearly mentioned that "relating to" has been held to be equivalent to or synonymous with as to "concerning with" and "pertaining to". The expression "pertaining to" is an expression of expansion and not of contraction'. 27. In the light of the above judgement, these arguments of the petitioners are rejected. Reliance upon the provisions of the Cinema Regulation Rules and the connected Forms also does not impress as it is nobody's case that the ticket price has been tampered with or modified. Admittedly, the ticket rate remains as fixed by the State. The challenge is only to the inclusion of the 'online booking charges' to the rate for admission. The phrase 'payment for admission' by definition includes (i) any....
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....at of providing the public revenue for the common purposes of the State but of providing funds for a particular scheme of betterment. No authority was vouched for the proposition that an impost laid by statute upon property within a defined area, or upon specified classes of property, or upon specified classes of persons, is not within the true significance of the term a tax. Nor so far as appears has it even been successfully contended that revenue raised by statutory imposts for specific purposes is not taxation." (emphasis supplied) 10. In Raza Buland Sugar Co. Ltd. v. Municipal Board, Rampur [AIR 1962 All 83 : 1961 All LJ 976] which was subsequently approved in Raza Buland Sugar Co. Ltd. v. Municipal Board, Rampur [AIR 1965 SC 895 : (1965) 1 SCR 970] the question arose as to whether the Municipal Board can levy water tax when the power to legislate was in respect of the land and building. The High Court held that in pith and substance water tax is not on water but it is a levy on land and building. 30. The Division Bench expressed its full agreement with the conclusions as above holding that it was not the nomenclature employed that was decisive, but the nature, ....
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....d shall be calculated and paid on the number of admissions." 32. The challenge was rejected in conclusion at paragraph 13 in the following terms: 13. Entry 62 of List II of Seventh Schedule empowers the State Legislature to levy tax on luxuries, entertainment, amusements, betting and gambling. Under Entry 62, the State Legislature is competent to enact law to levy tax on luxuries and entertainment. The incidence of tax is on entertainment. Since entertainment necessarily implies the persons entertained, therefore, the incidence of tax is on the person entertained. Coming to the question whether the State Legislature is competent to levy tax on admission of cars/motor vehicles inside the Drive-in-Theatre especially when it is argued that cars/motor vehicles are not the persons entertained. Section 3 which is charging provision, provides for levy of tax on each payment of admission. Thus, under the Act, the State is competent to levy tax on each admission inside the Drive-in-Theatre. The challenge to the levy is on the ground that the vehicle is not a person entertained and, therefore, the levy is ultra vires. It cannot be disputed that the car or motor ....
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....judgment in Drive-In Enterprises (Supra) would be on point as far as the issue before me is concerned. The observations of the Bench that the levy of entertainment tax is, in pith and substance, on the 'person entertained' and this would be sufficient to resolve the present lis. The levy would thus encompass the special benefits and facilities enjoyed by a customer. In the case of the Drive-In Enterprises (Supra), the charge was extended to cover the vehicle carrying the consumer into the drive-in theatre. The argument that the vehicle did not derive the pleasures of the entertainment but was only a medium to carry the customers inside the theatre and thus, should stand excluded while computing the tax to be levied was rejected. 34. A vehicle is part of the facilities offered and serves to improve or enhance the experience of the entertainment provided as compared to a squatter who could well walk into a drive-in theatre and sit on the seating provided to watch the film. The experience is rendered more pleasurable and the facility offered becomes intrinsic to the process of watching the film itself. Thus, the receipts from such additional facility/benefit should stand encompa....