Court trials have become a part of Kamal Haasan’s life. He has been bogged down by cases one after another. Only recently, the plagiarism issue over the story of Dasavatharam was settled with the courts giving him a clean chit. And another one has already cropped up.

This one is from the Income Tax Tribunal on tax evasion for the profits earned from the sale of overseas rights of his film Kuruthi Punal.

The case was earlier dismissed by the High Court on the grounds that the sale of overseas rights of films, which included shipment of film prints can be considered as products and hence exemption from income tax can be sought under section 80 h (h), (c) of the Income Tax Act. It also exempted Kamal Haasan, the producer of the film, from tax payment to the tune of Rs. 54,50,000. The Income Tax Tribunal also approved this exemption stating that the sale of overseas distribution rights could be categorized as sale of goods.

However, the IT department not satisfied with the verdict, have filed an appeal in the Supreme Court stating that the sale of overseas telecast and video rights cannot be categorized as goods and hence would attract tax and the exemption sought by Kamal under section 80 h (h), (c) of the Income Tax Act does not apply to this case. After the hearings, the bench headed by Justice Ashokben directed Kamal Haasan to file a reply and has issued a notice to this effect.