MUMBAI: Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai has come under the scanner of the Income Tax authorities for claiming exemption as NRI for money earned abroad after winning the Miss World contest over a decade back. Aishwarya, 34, declared her taxable income for the financial year 1996-97 to be 2.14 lakh. But in 2003, the authorities decided to reopen the assessment, as her passport revealed that during the period she was not an NRI, as she had claimed to be.

Aishwarya claimed tax exemption for Rs 2.6 million which she had earned abroad after winning the beauty pageant during that period on the ground that she was a non-resident Indian (NRI). Challenging relief granted last year to Aishwarya by Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on this score, the Income Tax authorities, which had decided to reopen her tax assessment, moved an appeal in the Bombay High Court. A Division Bench headed by Justice S Radhakrishnan admitted the appeal. IT Department's lawyer Benny Chatterjee argued that Aishwarya's income is not being questioned, but her getting exemption under NRI category is questionable.

The key issue is whether Aishwarya - who had won Miss World title just then - could claim to be a Non Resident Indian for that period, he added. She was not outside the country for 186 days within that period, as required to qualify for income tax exemption under the NRI category, authorities said. Therefore, she was asked to pay tax on the income of around Rs 26 lakh earned after winning the beauty pageant.

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