ESG to claim Rs 1.5 cr in refund from I-T department

Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a nodal state government body to host International Film Festival of India (IFFI), will claim a refund of whopping Rs 1.5 crore from the Income Tax Department for the taxes paid over the last eight years, a senior official said on Thursday.

Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a nodal state government body to host the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), will claim a refund of whopping Rs 1.5 crore from the Income Tax Department for the taxes paid over the last eight years, a senior official said on Thursday. ESG Vice-Chairman Subhash Faldesai told reporters here that the body has audited and submitted its account to the Income Tax Department, which was pending for the last eight years.

Falesia said that the accounts were not in proper order since 2012 due to which the income tax office was frequently issuing notices to the ESG. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) constituted under the State Information and Publicity Department hosts IFFI in Goa annually in association with Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry's Directorate of Film Festival.

Faldesai, who is a former BJP MLA, said that ESG would be claiming reimbursement of Rs 1.5 crore from the Income Tax Department as it has filed all its IT returns and completed all the other tax-related formalities. Meanwhile, Faldesai said that the ESG will also earn from the hiked rents to be paid to them by INOX Leisure Private Limited, which runs the four-screen multiplex owned by the body.

He said that the multiplex renovated by INOX Leisure will be operational from November, this year, after which it will fetch a revenue of Rs 54 lakh per month to the ESG from the earlier figure of Rs 20 lakh per month..