Mumbai: The Income Tax (I-T) department has denied issuing a notice to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan asking him to explain the purchase of Ray Ban sunglasses worth Rs 2.7 lakh.
Earlier reports suggested that the taxmen had also asked him to disclose details of expensive accessories in his possession.
Bachchan has received three notices from the Income Tax department since November 2005.
Bachchan wore the branded glasses in his new film Zamanat which is due to hit the theatres next week.
Bachchan was also asked to prove his status as a farmer, for a proposal to buy 20 acres of land in Maval taluka near Pune. His move to purchase land, which is only available to farmers was questioned under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1963.
In January 2006 the IT department refused Bachchan rebate allowed to artistes under the IT Act for the income he earned for anchoring Kaun Banega Crorepati - citing that anchoring was not acting.
On March 16, Bachchan had to make a visit to the Aykar Bhavan in Mumbai regarding a long pending tax assessment matter. Normally high profile assesses do not personally go to the IT department unless they are summoned.
The department has been claiming tax demands from the superstar in quite a few cases.
While some of them pertain to his earnings from his overseas ventures/assignments, others deal with his earnings from the now-scrapped popular television game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC).
In January, the I-T department had issued notice asking whether Bachchan was an artiste.
The poser came as a reply to the superstar’s claim for rebate on the income he earned as the anchor of KBC.
He claimed the skills he used as the host of the popular TV show were part of the same repertoire as he uses as an artiste.
The department denied the rebate allowed to artistes under the Income Tax Act, saying that anchoring was not acting.
Around the same time, the actor had also paid an amount of Rs 5 crore at one go, when he was slapped with a tax-payment notice from the department during his hospitalisation in December following an intestinal problem.
The Samajwadi Party had taken up this issue in Parliament and alleged that Bachchan was being targeted by the Government.
(With inputs from CNN-IBN and Agencies)
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