Tax anomaly: Salman, Ranbir, Riteish, Ajay named in CAG report
Several stars of Bollywood including Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Riteish Deshmukh and even Salman Khan are under the scanner of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for alleged tax anomalies. The CAG has detected at least 156 such cases of non-compliance and short payment of service tax, collectively estimated to be worth over Rs. 50cr.
How exactly did the actors evade taxes?
According to the CAG report, in the cases of Khan, Devgn, Rampal and Deshmukh, "producers agreed to provide for and bear expenses relating to arrangement of services for travel, lodging and boarding of make-up artists, hair stylists and spot boys". By rule, the value of this 'additional consideration' has to be included in taxable income. Show-cause have been served to Devgn, Rampal and Deshmukh.
Will Khan escape legal action once again?
In Ranbir's case, for 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', he received payment in more than one part - one from foreign agencies (Rs. 6.75cr) for the scenes shot abroad, thus making it look like "export of service with no tax liability". In the process, he evaded service taxes of Rs. 83.43L. Meanwhile, the department hasn't clarified what action is being taken against Khan.
Bollywood's relation with tax evasion goes back years
Time and again, Bollywood has been gripped by complaints of massive tax evasions. Just last year, the names of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan and Devgn emerged in the Panama Papers leak. Earlier, Mahima Chaudhry's name surfaced in HSBC's list of Swiss Bank account holders. Whistleblower Rudolf Elmer claimed "even cricketers and filmstars" hold secret accounts.
