Taxmen target brand bigwigs

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan has paid Rs 40 lakh while Aishwarya Rai has forked out Rs 22 lakh. No, one isn''t talking about the 30 per cent income-tax that the stars (presumably) cough up on their total earnings, but the eight per cent earned through brand promotions—in other words, service tax.<br /><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/603879.cms" alt="/photo/603879.cms" border="0" />Following a clarification from the Union ministry of finance on July 1, 2003 which stated that stars endorsing products came under the category of ‘business auxiliary services'', Bollywood''s bigwigs have been under the taxman''s scanner.<br /><br />The central excise officials who collect the levy on behalf of the directorate of service tax are furiously penning letters to all the film stars they see in advertisements. <br /><formid=367815><br /><br /></formid=367815></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />So far, 14 film stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Fardeen Khan, are learnt to have been issued letters, asking for details of income made in their capacity as brand ambassadors.<br /><br />The biggest of them all - Amitabh Bachchan - who''s become a permanent fixture on the small screen endorsing just about everything from chawan prash to chocolate, is learnt to have transferred responsibility to his company, A B Corp, for payment of service tax but has still to pay up. <br /><br />"The service providers (in this case, Bachchan) have to furnish information about their income through brand endorsements to us, on the basis of which we evaluate their liability," said an official.<br /><formid=367815><br /></formid=367815></div> </div>