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TMI Blog2020 (12) TMI 691X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a Owner for the purposes of the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939". 2. This court has passed an order in Writ Appeal Nos. 685, 694, 695, 696 and 697 of 2020, [PVR Ltd., (formerly known as SPI Cinemas Pvt. Ltd.) vs. Commercial Tax Officer, Chennai], dated 15.10.2020, holding in favour of the Appellant/Assessee, and set aside the order passed by the Commercial Tax Officer. The relevant paragraphs of the said judgment are quoted below for ready reference :- "21. In the case before us, the test for levy of Entertainment Tax is the entry into the entertainment and payment for that purpose. Entertainment Tax was a State subject and before the said levy of Entertainment Tax being subsumed under the GST Laws enforced in the country with e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ehalf of the Assessee. Unless such internet charges or online booking charges are uniformly charged from all the customers for having entry into the cinema hall, such extra service charges taken by the cinema owner to the extent of Rs. 30/- per ticket could not be made subject matter of Entertainment Tax. Even though such payment along with the cost of ticket at the rate of Rs. 190.78 in particular illustration, was part of the overall cost to the customer. The test is attending the entertainment or continuing to attend the entertainment. The mandatory requirement to fall within Section 3(7)(c) of the Act is that a person is required to make, as a condition to attend or continue to attend the entertainment. There is no doubt that booking of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erected to watch their movies on their seats in the auditorium, were two different classes of consumers. But they were not in the same premises or place for entertainment in that sense for enjoying the entertainment. While one class could enjoy the movie on the big screen while sitting in the comfort of their cars, the others had a restricted area of auditorium to view the movie from their seats, like any other usual cinema theatre. Therefore, Entertainment Tax on the full rate of tickets whether it was Rs. 5/- for the car owners or Rs. 3/-, for the auditorium customers, was held to be justified. But that rationale cannot be imported and applied here. While the service of internet booking itself is not only outside the realm of Entertainmen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the controversy raised before us and therefore, separate payment for separate facility is not exigible to Entertainment Tax is the premise which we find quite forceful in the case of the Assessee before us. 25. In the assessment order passed by the Assessing Authority in the present case on 21 September 2015, the learned Assessing Officer himself has taken note of the letter dated 19 June 2015 of the Assessee that levy of Service Tax and Entertainment Tax on online ticket booking charges are mutually exclusive but as the Assessee has not paid Service Tax for online ticket booking charges, therefore he is liable to pay Entertainment Tax on charges collected for online booking. From the para 24 of Written Submissions of Assessee, it is cle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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