AR Rahman Gets Notice For Evading Income Tax On Rs 3.47 Crore From Madras High Court

The Madras High court reportedly issued a notice to composer AR Rahman today (September 11). The notice was issued on an appeal filed by the Income Tax department, which stated that AR Rahman had evaded tax in an individual capacity by allegedly transferring his remuneration of Rs 3.47 crore to his charitable trust.

According to a report in India Today, the IT department stated that it has found discrepancies in Rahman's tax filing for the year 2011-12. The report also revealed that Income Tax Department moved the Madras HC as the Indian composer had routed a remuneration of Rs 3.47 crore to AR Rahman Foundation. The IT department counsel said the income taxable to the individual has to be received in his account.

The amount can be moved to any charitable trust after the deduction of income-tax, however the huge sum of AR Rahman's salary after composing ringtones for a UK-based company called Libra mobiles was directed to a fund. AR Rahman had a three-year contract with the company.

A division bench of Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan had sent the notice to AR Rahman. The GST council claims Rahman is liable to pay taxes on the earned income by composing for movies and receiving royalties for his music work, and had failed to do the same. According to reports, in February, Madras HC had granted an interim stay on the order passed by Commissioner of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Central Excise (CE) asking the composer to pay a sum of Rs 6.79 crore as arrear and an additional penalty of Rs 6.79 crore.