Madras High Court Issues Notice To AR Rahman After Income Tax Dept Files Tax Evasion Case

The Madras High court on Friday sent a notice to AR Rahman to explain the charges leveled against him by the Income Tax Department.

New Delhi: The Madras High Court on Friday issued a notice to Oscar winning singer-composer AR Rahman over allegations of tax evasion. The notice has come after the Income Tax Department filed a case against him alleging that the musician has routed an income of over Rs 3 crore through his foundation 'AR Rahman Foundation' in an attempt to evade tax. According to the reports, the High court on Friday sent a notice to AR Rahman to explain the charges leveled against him by the Income Tax Department. The case dates back to 2011-12 when the renowned singer received an income of Rs 3.47 crore for composing exclusive ringtones for a UK based telecom company. This was for his three-year contract with UK-based Libra Mobiles. Later, the Income Tax Department accused AR Rahman of evading tax, alleging that money he received from the telecom firm had been transferred to the Foundation, which did not have a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence. According to the reports, the amount of approximately Rs 3.47 crore was taxable income as it was not in the form of donation. On this, Rahman had moved the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Chennai against the order issued by the I-T department. The tribunal had then held that the government of India had accorded “post facto approval” in respect of this contribution. As quoted in reports, the court in September 2019 held that "there is nothing on the record suggesting that it is taxable in the hands of the assessee (Rahman)." The famous singer-composer had recently grabbed the eyeballs when he alleged that "There’s a whole gang working against him in Bollywood." He revealed that the reason he has been doing less work in Bollywood over the years is that certain people in the Hindi film industry have constantly been spreading rumours about him, denting his chances of getting good work.