Madras HC Stays Income Tax Order Imposing ₹1.5 crore Penalty On Actor Vijay For Undisclosed Income Of ₹15 crore In FY 2016

Justice Anita Sumanth of Madras High Court today (Aug 16) stayed an order by Income Tax department imposing a penalty of ₹ 1.5 crore on leading Tamil actor Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar (popularly known as Vijay) for his undisclosed earnings of Rs 15 crore pertaining to financial year 2015-16.

The stay was granted by the Judge after a submission by actor's counsel that the penalty imposed on the actor by invoking Section 271AAB(1) of the Income Tax Act had been passed beyond the period of limitation. The counsel argued that the penalty should have been imposed before June 30, 2018 and not after that. The Judge directed the Income Tax department to file a counter affidavit to the actor's writ petition by September 16.

The Income Tax department imposed the penalty after searches were conducted at his premises in September 2015.

According to Income Tax department, Vijay admitted to receiving Rs 5 crore in cash and Rs 16 crore in cheque payments as his remuneration for the Tamil film ‘Puli’. The actor also admitted to receiving an additional Rs 10 crore in cash during the same financial year, although it was not duly disclosed in his income tax filing submitted to the department. The I-T department contended that Vijay agreed to pay the tax amount for Rs 15 crore of undisclosed income.

In February 2020, the Income Tax department reportedly recovered Rs 65 crores from the residence of Vijay’s financer in Chennai during raids which were carried out in the connection with an alleged tax evasion case linked to AGS Cinemas