It may be small change for them, but Academy Award winners AR Rahman and Resul Pookkutty have been exempted from paying customs duty for their three gold-plated statuettes on their return from Los Angeles to Chennai.
While Pookkutty?s single Oscar was within the permissible duty-free allowance of Rs 25,000, one of Rahman?s two statuettes should have attracted a 35.7% customs duty?a princely sum of Rs 8,925 as the Oscar is worth $500.
Home minister P Chidambaram had said he would ask finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to consider an exemption for the Oscar winners, but there was no official directive from the finance ministry to this effect. Sportspersons coming back after winning international tournaments and matches are also often exempted from payment of customs duty.
?The trophies are invaluable and a big respect for the country. We did not think it would be correct to ask him pay customs on it,? a customs official at the Anna International Airport told FE .
While this was part of the welcome ceremony for the two winners, field officials are now proposing that the Central Board of Excise and Customs come out with a clarification on how such awards should be treated for tax purposes.
At present, the board does not give any exemption to international award recipients and their tax treatment is left to the discretion of the concerned officials. Interestingly, the board can also review such an exemption.
?While the Oscar win was certainly a one-off incident, it will be useful if the board comes out with some guidelines on the taxability of such awardees,? a customs official said. When Slumdog Millionaire swept the Academy Awards on February 23, Chidambaram had said, ?If the Oscars carry a cash award, I will recommend to the finance minister that it should be exempt from taxation.?