Come February 1, you will have to shell out Rs 20 more per month for availing the direct-to-home (DTH) television service — popular providers are Tata Sky, Sun TV and Airtel among others.

The Delhi government will, for the first time, impose entertainment tax on the DTH service. The move will earn it 20 per cent more entertainment tax. Those with commercial connections, like hotels and restaurants, the bar is higher at Rs 50 per month.

The decision comes after the Delhi Assembly approved an amendment in the Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax (Amendment) Bill last December. The department has proposed February 1 as the date to implement the tax and is awaiting Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna’s nod.

Till now, only cable TV owners were paying the entertainment tax — the government collect Rs 90 lakh per month from 4.5 registered cable users in the Capital.

There, however, remains a significant gap between the actual number of consumers and the ones who pay tax. There are nearly 20 lakh households in the Capital with either cable TV or DTH connection. “It is more expensive to increase enforcement and does not justify against the amount collected,” said a senior Delhi government official.

There are, meanwhile, over five lakh DTH users and the government expects to earn more than Rs 1 crore each month by raising the tax amount. The government collects Rs 85 crore annually as entertainment tax and with tax on DTH there will be a sizeable increase in the amount. “The best part is that the market for DTH is growing fast in Delhi, almost at the rate of five per cent every month. So we can expect much higher collection pretty soon,” the official added.

For tax officials, collecting money from DTH service providers will be an easy job — there are only five players in Delhi. At present, only seven states in the country have started taxing DTH services anything between Rs 15 and Rs 45 per month. In future, the government plans to levy tax based on the total money a consumer pays to the DTH service provider. “We are planning to slowly to shift to charging a certain percentage of the total money paid to the DTH service provider,” added the official.

Source: Indian Express