Section 507 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — Statement by Film Producers and Persons in Specified Activity (Form 52A)

In plain language

What Section 507 is about

Section 507 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 is the re-numbered successor to the well-known Section 285B of the Income-tax Act, 1961. It places a reporting obligation on people in the film, media and events business. In plain words: if you produce a cinematograph film, or you run a "specified activity" (like event management, an OTT/TV programme, a documentary or a sports event), you must file a statement with the tax department listing the big payments you made to the various people you engaged.

The idea is transparency. Film and event budgets involve large cash and cheque payments spread across many artists, technicians, vendors and agencies. By collecting a payment-wise statement from the producer/organiser, the department can cross-check whether each recipient (actor, technician, caterer, agency, etc.) has actually declared that income and paid tax on it. It is an information-reporting provision, not a tax-charging provision — filing it does not create any tax liability for you; it simply feeds the department's data trail.

Who it applies to

• Producers of cinematograph films — anyone carrying on the production of a film during the whole or any part of a tax year.
• Persons engaged in a "specified activity" — the scope was widened (originally by the Finance Act, 2022 under the old Act) to go well beyond films.
• Persons doing both — a producer who is also running events.

"Specified activity" is defined to mean event management, documentary production, production of programmes for telecasting on television or on OTT (over-the-top) or similar platforms, sports event management, other performing arts, or any other activity the Central Government notifies. So a web-series producer, an IPL-style sports event organiser, a wedding/corporate event company or a documentary house all fall within it.

The key condition — the ₹50,000 threshold

• The statement must contain particulars of all payments exceeding ₹50,000 in the aggregate made by you, or due from you, to each person engaged in the production or specified activity.
• The ₹50,000 test is applied per person, on an aggregate basis — not per bill. If you pay one technician ₹20,000 four times (₹80,000 total), that person crosses ₹50,000 and must be reported, even though no single payment did.
• Payments below ₹50,000 in aggregate to a person need not be listed.

Form, manner and deadline

Under the corresponding rule (Rule 121A / Form 52A framework carried over from the 1961 regime), the statement is filed in Form No. 52A. Key mechanics:

• Form: Form No. 52A.
• Mode: filed electronically under a digital signature (DSC) or through electronic verification code (EVC).
• Time limit: within 60 days from the end of the tax year (the older, pre-2022 rule of 30 days from film completion was replaced by this 60-day window).

The exact form number, rule reference and time period are ultimately "as may be prescribed" by the CBDT, so producers should confirm the current notified form each year.

How it interacts with other provisions

• TDS provisions: The people you engage (artists, professionals, contractors) are usually already subject to tax deduction at source. Section 507 is an extra, separate reporting layer that lets the department reconcile those payments.
• Penalty for default: Failure to furnish the statement, or furnishing wrong particulars, attracts penalty under the Act's general penalty provisions for failure to furnish statements/information (the successor to Section 272A of the 1961 Act). This is typically a fixed penalty, not tax-based.
• SFT (a different thing): Do not confuse Section 507 with the Statement of Financial Transaction / reportable account regime (the successor to Section 285BA), which applies to banks, sub-registrars and financial institutions. Section 507 is specifically the film/events reporting section.

Practical implications

• Maintain a payee-wise ledger from day one of production so that the ₹50,000 aggregate test can be applied cleanly at year end.
• Collect PAN of every payee — Form 52A requires PAN-wise reporting, and missing PANs create filing problems.
• Diarise the 60-day deadline after your tax year ends to avoid penalty.
• OTT and web content producers are squarely covered — a common blind spot for newer digital-first production houses.