‘Blockbuster boy’ Salman Khan makes taxmen happy too

Salman paid Rs. 5 crore in advance tax for the July-Sept quarter, IT Department sources said.

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who just delivered the biggest box office grosser of all time with his latest film `Bodyguard`, has also trumped his rivals in the Hindi filmdom with a near threefold increase in tax payout.

Salman, who has had several run-ins with the law, paid Rs 5 crore in advance tax for the July-September quarter, Income Tax Department sources said today. In the corresponding period last year, the actor had paid only Rs 2 crore in advance tax. The 45-year-old star has been delivering blockbusters by strategically coinciding their release with Eid for the past two years. Salman`s arch rival Shah Rukh Khan, who has not had any big releases in the recent past, saw his tax outgo remain flat at Rs 5 crore, the sources added. Akshay Kumar, another big name in Bollywood, is also estimated to have paid Rs 5 crore in advance tax payments, up from Rs 4 crore, they said. Actor-producer Aamir Khan, whose small-budgeted edgy movie `Delhi Belly` released this quarter and was received well, saw a Rs 50 lakh rise in advance tax outgo at Rs 4.5 crore, they said. New kid on the block Ranbir Kapoor`s advance tax outgo stood at a flat Rs 2.5 crore, the sources said. Advance tax payment is a system of staggered payment of income taxes so that high tax-paying individuals or firms do not pile up tax liabilities towards the end of the year. The payment for September quarter accounts for 30 per cent of the total collection payout for an individual or company. In the first quarter it is 15 per cent, followed by 30 per cent each in the next two and 25 per cent in the fourth quarter. PTI