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Madras HC reserves verdict in Vijay's tax penalty case
24 Jan 2026

The Madras High Court has reserved its verdict on actor Vijay's 2022 writ petition challenging a ₹1.5 crore penalty by the Income Tax Department.

The penalty was for not voluntarily disclosing an additional income of ₹15 crore during the 2015-16 financial year.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy deferred his verdict after hearing arguments from both sides, reported The Hindu.

I-T Department argued penalty was rightly imposed
Legal proceedings

The I-T department's senior standing counsel, A.P. Srinivas, opposed the writ petition, asserting that the penalty was correctly imposed under Section 271AAB(1) of the I-T Act.

He urged the court to dismiss Vijay's petition.

In response, the actor's counsel argued that the penalty proceedings were barred by the limitation period and should have been initiated by June 30, 2019.

I-T sleuths conducted search and seizure operation at Vijay's premises
Investigation details

Srinivas informed the court that I-T officials had carried out a search and seizure operation at Vijay's premises in September 2015.

The operation reportedly revealed that producers of his 2015 movie Puli had paid him nearly ₹5 crore in cash, in addition to the ₹16 crore remuneration through checks.

However, they only deposited the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for the check payment, not for the cash transaction.

In July 2016, he filed his 2016-17 return, declaring ₹35.42 crore income.

Department disallowed Vijay's claims, imposed penalty
Tax assessment

The I-T department disallowed Vijay's claims and passed an assessment order on December 30, 2017, determining his taxable income as ₹38.25 crore.

The order noted that he wouldn't have disclosed the additional income without the search and seizure operation.

As a result, the department imposed penalties under Sections 271(1)(c) and 271AAB(1) of the I-T Act.