Supreme Court issues notice to Amitabh Bachchan

The Supreme Court issued a notice to megastar Amitabh Bachchan on a petition from the Income Tax department.

The I-T department says that Bachchan owes 1.66 crores in taxes for his show ��Kaun Banega Crorepati�۪ for the year 2001-2002, according to a report by NDTV.

Among the reasons given for reopening assessment were that accounts kept by the actor were not examined thoroughly and that although he had seven bank accounts the actor had given details of only six of them. The high court had accepted the actor’s plea that being an artiste he should be given tax relief under Section 80 RR of the Income-Tax Act.

The I-T department in its appeal had challenged the order on the ground that the relief is for those artistes who either earn by performing outside the country or receive payment from foreign agencies and further stated 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.