Looks like an encore. Bollywood?s top Khans ? Salman, Shahrukh and Aamir ? have retained their pre-eminence among Bollywood stars as the biggest taxpayers, as initial figures of advance tax paid by individuals trickle in. Amitabh Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor paid far less. While both Salman and Shahrukh have paid R5 crore each as advance tax in the first instalment of the current fiscal, Aamir paid R4.5 crore, R50 lakh higher than what he paid in the same period last year.

Among industrialists, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla figured among the top 50 highest tax payers. He paid R7.7 crore as against R5.88 crore in the year-ago period.

Individuals are liable to pay advance tax in three instalments if their estimated tax payable for the full financial year is R10,000 or above.

Among Bollywood stars, it is Salman who has financially gained the most this fiscal thanks to the commercial success of his films like Ready and Bodyguard. He had paid an advance tax of only R2 crore in the same period last fiscal. Both Ready and Bodyguard grossed over R100 crore.

In 2010-11, Salman had paid just R11 crore as tax, far less than the R20 crore paid by his screen rival Shahrukh. Even Aamir?s full-year tax in the last fiscal stood at R12 crore.

However, for Shahrukh, this year has not been remarkably different.

He still paid an advance tax of R5 crore this year, same as the first quarter of last fiscal, thanks to lucrative endorsement deals like Videocon, Dish TV and Pepsi. Experts said his main source of income continues to be his strong brand power.

All three Khans have left their younger colleague Ranbir Kapoor behind this year in advance tax payments. Kapoor paid just R2.6 crore as advance tax this fiscal, a trifle above what he paid in the corresponding period last year.

Behind the three Khans is World Cup winning captain MS Dhoni, who paid an advance tax of Rs 4 crore. In the same priod last year, Dhoni had pad an advance tax of only Rs 1 crore. According to advertisers, Dhoni’s gains have mainly been from the spoils of World Cup win and a subsequent jump in his endorsement fees by around 25-30%. Dhoni currently endorses over twodozen brands and earns R12-14 crore every year from endorsements alone. This is reflected in his taxes as Dhoni paid R11 crore in tax for 2010-11.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar are lower in the pecking order this year when it comes to the amounts forked out as advance tax. While Tendulkar has paid R2 crore compared to R1.75 crore in the first installment of last year, Bachchan’s tax payment increased to R1.40 crore from R1 crore in the year-ago period. In the last fiscal, Tendulkar had contributed R10 crore to the government exchequer by way of tax while Bachchan had paid R13 crore.