Amitabh agrees to pay tax dues worth Rs 1.66 cr

CNN-IBN

Mumbai: A day after the Supreme Court asked actor Amitabh Bachchan
torespond to a petition fromthe Income Tax department, the actor said
on Wednesday that he is ready to pay the taxes due. The Income Tax
Department had claimed that the superstarowed to it Rs 1.66 crore as
taxes on the income he earned through his show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'
during 2001-02. "Death and I-T are the two things that are permanent
in anyone's life. Whatever the court says, I will obeyit," tweeted
Bachchan.
The Bombay High Court had dismissed an IT Department's plea on
February 29, 2012 after which the department moved the Supreme
Court.The IT Department in its petition had alleged that the
actor in his returns filed for the assessment year 2001-02 showed his
taxable income to be about Rs 3.23 crore while the Assessing Officer
(AO)assessed the money earned by Bachchan to bearound Rs 26 crore
including the amount he had earned from the TV show.
Earlier in 2008, the high court had allowed I-T exemption on 30 per
cent of Bachchan's total incomeof Rs 50.92 crore from theshow. The
High Court had accepted the actor's plea that being an artiste he
should be given tax reliefunder Section 80 RR of the Income-Tax Act.
The I-T department in its appeal had challenged theorder on the ground
that the relief is for those artistes who either earn by performing
outside thecountry or receive payment from foreign agencies. It was
submittedby the I-T department that Bachchan was acting as an anchor
in the television programme show for Star India Ltd and cannot be
termed artiste for his role in the show.