In the eye of the storm

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Item girl Negar Khan finds herself in yet another controversy</span><br /><br /></div> <div align="right" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="right" border="0" width="36.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/1032893.cms" alt="/photo/1032893.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">Controversy just does not seem to leave item girl Negar Khan. After forceful deportation and the police recently questioning the credentials of the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">qazi</span> who solemnised her <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">nikaah</span> to Saahil Khan, comes yet another debacle. The issue now is -- should the income tax department have collected tax from Negar before she was deported?<br /><br />While the IT department says that this was not required, experts in the field point out that anyone working in India who falls under the tax bracket is liable to pay tax.<br /><br />Says former cop and lawyer Y P Singh, "Under section 230 of the Income Tax Act no foreigner who has worked in India can leave the country without clearance of the Income Tax department." He adds that section 6 of the IT Act says that if a person has stayed for more than 182 days in a single year in the country, he is regarded as a resident in India. "And under Section 9 of the said Act, every income, whether direct or indirect from India is deemed to be taxable in India," says Singh.<br /><br />Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai, Urvashi Saxena points out otherwise. "She was not an Indian resident, so she is not liable to pay tax in India. She has to pay tax in her country," she says. When asked about issuing a tax clearance certificate before deportation, she says that the rule is done away with.<br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />However, experts say that the amendment was made in section 230(A) which is related to property transaction. "And this is not the case here," says Singh who adds that it was the duty of the Air Intelligence Unit of the Income Tax, stationed at the airport to have ensured that Negar paid tax on the professional income she earned in India.<br /><br />He adds that the Competent Authority in the IT and investigation department should have attached all her property, bank accounts and dues, related to her unpaid income tax.<br /><br />"Moreover, under section 230(2) it was the duty of the airline to not to have allowed her travel without income tax clearance. Now under this section now the airline is legally liable to pay the tax dues," he says. Practising chartered accountant Amit Nagar too agrees that Negar should have been taxed. "Since she has earned in India she had to be taxed before being deported. Now they might have to recover it from her debtors or freeze her bank accounts," he says.<br /><a href="mailto:manish.pachouly@timesgroup.com">manish.pachouly@timesgroup.com</a><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span></div> </div>