Bollywood slams service tax man

 The Film and TV Producers Guild met with R Shekhar, Service Tax Commissioner and Sameer Wankhede, Deputy Commissioner, Service Tax, over the week to air their grievances. Before the meeting, the Guild's President Mukesh Bhatt had accused the department of selectively targeting the film industry.

"I am going to ask the department to stop the witch hunt. The filmmakers are not paying taxes, not because they don't want to but because the process is a complicated one and they need to be educated about it. The department needs to engage us instead of targeting us. There are so many other industries defaulting on service taxes, why do only the names from the film industry get flashed in the media.''," he had then quipped.
 Post their discussion, though Bhatt told Mirror that the meeting was fruitful, Wankhede said, "We have given them time till September 30 to make corrections. As far as withholding their names is concerned, that will be the Commissioner's call. We have no personal agenda against them but we can't stop our work."

With the meetings apparently failing to broker peace, the film industry is now backing Bhatt's claims of a witch hunt. Mirror spoke to many insiders and among them senior producer Pahlaj Nihalani did not mince words while accusing the department of foul play.

"Their conduct is appalling. They are selectively targeting Bollywood personalities and then naming and shaming them in the media. There are plenty of bigwigs in the list of defaulters but only those from the film industry make it to the negative headlines" he said.
 Director Rensil D'Silva endorsed Nihalani, saying, "Bollywood celebs are soft targets and that is the only reason this is happening," and Kulmeet Makkar, the Guild's CEO echoed similar sentiments.

Nihalani was also quick to accuse Wankhede of publicity mongering saying, "Samir Wankhade used to be with the customs authorities and during his stint there, Bollywood celebrities were targeted and the details of their trouble were quickly relayed to the media."

But Wankhede maintained his stand, and said "Let's get this straight. We are doing no wrong in declaring the names of the defaulters.The public should know what is happening. We send out press releases on every defaulter. If Bollywood celebs get highlighted, it's not our fault," he said in a conversation with Mirror.

Meanwhile a seminar to make the film industry understand the laws of service tax, was organised by the Guild and the chartered accountants of top studios and actors including Aamir Khan, Disney UTV, Eros and Reliance were in attendance among several others. Accusations of a witch hunt fly but officials maintain their 'duty' stand.

Here is a feud no one saw coming; it is Bollywood versus the Service Tax Department.

Anurag Kashyap, Ram Gopal Varma, Vivek Oberoi; these are some of the filmy names who have found themselves in a tax noose in the recent weeks and their defaults have promptly been splashed across headlines.

Rattled by the raids in their offices and their names being leaked in the press, the fraternity had a series of meetings with the department.