Amitabh Bachchan's ABCL gets Tax query

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has received a notice from the Income Tax Department asking for details to be furnished of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) during 2000-2005 by the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd.

It is also learnt that the Tax Department has asked for details on the various agreements that ABCL has entered into with various vendors, agencies and individuals during the period 2000-2005.

TDS officials, without being named, have been quoted as saying that this is a routine notice served per procedure to companies, and has been served by the Income Tax Department's TDS Wing.

The TDS Wing of the Income Tax Office has embarked upon several measures to identify cases of TDS violations by business entities. Per procedure, a company has to deduct tax at source (Hence, Tax Deduction at Source) while making any payment to a vendor or agency, and to make a deposit of the amount of TDS with the designated government office on or before the 7th of the subsequent month. At the same time, TDS certificates too are required to be issued to the payees whose tax has been deducted at source at the time of payment.

The TDS wing has sought details and specific information from ABCL on all such TDS certificates issued to payees. It will be recalled that Viruddh and Family were among the big projects handled by the Amitabh Bachchan-promoted ABCL.