NEW DELHI, Jan 23: As questions go, this is really an existential one. The income-tax department has asked film legend Amitabh Bachchan if he is an artiste?

The poser hurled at the star concerns his claim for rebate on the income he earns as anchor for the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati show. The department has denied the rebate allowed to artistes under the income tax act, saying that anchoring is not acting.

The movie icon has claimed the rebate on the ground that the skills he uses as the host of the popular TV quiz show are part of the same repertoire as he uses as an artiste.

Resisting this, taxmen from Mumbai have asked him: Are you an artiste or an anchor? They maintain that anchors are out of the purview of rebate provided to artistes.

Sources close to Bachchan vigorously contest this saying that Amitabh Bachchan as quizmaster is not playing the typical anchor who sticks to a prepared script. Instead, he improvises and innovates on the set.

“Computer ji ise lock kiya jaye,” the celebrated punchline that he uses as the contestant after juggling four options settles for one, is cited as an instance. The show has also seen the superstar engaging the contestants as well as his audience with impromptu interventions, sources close to him point out.

Within the tax department itself, according to sources, the opinion is divided, with many conceding that they could be treading on a thin line.

Others, however, stand by the department, saying that rebate provided to artistes under the relevant section of the IT Act is applicable only to income generated outside India, and strictly in the case of acting.—By special arrangement with the Times of India