Iraj Rad, complained about low budget of Iranian Theater Forum and said: Taxes are also applied to this small budget.
According to Artmag.ir, quoted by Isna, Iraj Rad, a veteran actor of cinema and television, pointed to types of cultural and artistic institutions in Iran and reminded: We have two types of cultural and artistic institutions; For-profit and non-profit organizations such as Iranian Theater Forum, whose work is to provide services and support to artists, receive funds they need for their current affairs and pay their staff in form of donations.
He expressed his regret: We have been deprived of this help for some time now and we have received very small amounts to cover our affairs, buy office supplies and personnel salaries. Therefore, we do not have profit and income to pay taxes.
Head of Iranian Theater Forum, pointing out that infrastructures for receiving taxes from cultural and artistic institutions in tax department, are incorrectly defined, and stated: Due to these incorrect infrastructures, declaration that we fill out every year is the same declaration that economic enterprises also fill out. While we do not have a profitable activity at all and we have to enter amounts of aid we have received in a place that is specifically defined for profit. Because if we don’t do that, statement will be rejected.
This theater, cinema and television artist, referring to articles contained in statutes of Iranian Theater Forum, that it is non-profit and non-political, continued: The problem that happens here is that tax auditor is based on amounts that we pay instead of profit. We have announced that taxes will be taken into account for us, and this is reason why Theater House has strange problems, so that we still have tax debts for years 2018, 2019 and even 2017.
Iraj Rad, added: For example, for year 2018, about 360 million tomans and for year 2019, more than 600 million tomans were taken into account, which in total is more than 1 billion tomans that we have to pay. The procedure is that when we submit declaration, usually 2 years later, they determine tax amount. After learning about this amount, we had a meeting with head of the tax department, who said to protest, and we protested, and finally they said that you are obligated to pay taxes; But next problem is that they announced that we have been fined due to delay, and now instead of 360 million tomans in 2018 tax, we have to pay an additional 270 million tomans as a fine.
Referring to the follow-ups they have done to solve this problem, head of Iranian Theater Forum added: “We protested and it took some time for them to respond and we even had a meeting with director of finance, who was supposed to investigate, but this investigation 7, 8 It took a month, and all time we were waiting for answer to our protest, we were fined due to delay in tax payment, while if they had said from beginning that this ruling was final, we would not have lost time to protest, which later resulted in a fine due to delay. But unfortunately, these cases are not thought about at all.
He further explained about Iranian Theater Forum‘s budget situation: after many correspondences, we receive a small budget that includes taxes, while cultural activities are supported all over world, and tax department itself should help us. Not to tax us.
Referring to tax exemption law for culture and art supporters, Irah Rad added: In other countries, individuals and institutions that support cultural and artistic activities are included in tax exemption, but in our country, an artist who has paid from his own pocket for a product make art and non-profit organizations that do not generate income should pay such taxes. How much was highest budget received by theater to pay such taxes?
Giving explanations about Iranian Theater Forum‘s budget mechanism, he said: The routine was that we received assistance from Ershad and in return gave an annual performance report. For a while, municipality and city council provided assistance; But now for more than 2 years, we have not received any help from municipality and we have received 200 million tomans from Ministry of Guidance. This year we have received 500 million and we have received 200, 300 million tomans through art credit fund.
He continued: As the board of Iranian Theater Forum, none of us are salaried and we do not receive rials for work we do, while according to statute, we can even receive our travel expenses.
This actor and theater director, lamenting difficult economic situation of theater artists in current situation, reminded: Theater artists are not in a good situation to pay taxes. We had several meetings with head of tax department and in these meetings everything seems to be going well, but in practice, nothing happens and this is despite fact that theater does not have an economic definition anywhere in world.
In response to how to define a mechanism for Iranian Theater Forum‘s budget that is not dependent on individuals, Iraj Rad explained: For several years, a certain figure was considered annually through Ministry of Guidance, and we also after Submitting performance report, we would get next help. All these contributions were a low figure. Of course, we also had donations of over 1 billion Tomans. Sometimes, when aid was needed, due to budget deficit, amount of aid was reduced.
He reminded: Sometimes aid was provided through municipality, but later these aids were combined, and decision on how to divide it is left to relevant official to decide how much to help each organization or not to help at all. In fact, we haven’t received any money from municipality for about 2 years in Iranian Theater Forum, and these donations have not been legalized in city council either!
