Bollywood star Anushka Sharma contested the Maharashtra State Tax Department’s decision to increase taxes on the endorsement and hosting fees she has earned in the Bombay High Court on Thursday.
Government pleader Jyoti Chavan asked for more time to submit a response when the case came before a division bench consisting of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Abhay Ahuja.
The court has set a further hearing on February 6 and ordered the state government to submit its answer in two of the appeals that were heard.
Anushka Sharma has filed a petition with the High Court of Maharashtra challenging the Deputy Commissioner, of Sales Tax’s orders to increase her tax liabilities for the 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015, and 2015–2016 assessment years under the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act.
She claims the ST was improperly assessed at Rs 1.20 crore on her income of Rs 12.30 crore in 2012–2013 and at Rs 1.60 crore on about Rs 17 crore in payments received in 2013–2014.
Anushka Sharma claimed in her appeal that the evaluating officer made an error in determining that she had sold or transferred copyrights that she had obtained from sponsorships and anchoring functions.
According to the actress’s attorney, Deepak Bapat, the producer always retains the copyright of videos, and the producer also owns the performer’s rights, neither of which may be transferred or sold.
Bapat claimed in the petition that sales tax cannot be collected until it is first shown that there was a sale of goods, which is required under MVAT Sec. 6(1).
