Around 30% to 40% of money invested in making Kannada films or the remuneration paid to artists is unaccounted for, officials of the Income Tax Department, who recently searched the premises of four leading actors and producers, said.
“The diaries that had been maintained for accounting expenditure incurred on making films, which were seized during the search, also show that the money spent and accounted for do not match,” Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) R. Ravichandran told presspersons here on Monday
The four-day search last week yielded concealed properties worth ₹109 crore, while ₹11 crore-worth undisclosed assets, including ₹2.85 crore and 25.3 kg of gold jewellery, were seized.
“The book of accounts of actors do not match with their revenue. The search has revealed that the amount spent on making a film is largely exaggerated. Unaccounted money is spent on payments during production, and theatre collection is also in cash,” Mr. Ravichandran said. According to him, artists negotiate payments differently.
“Apart from the cash consideration, they receive part payment through overseas rights, satellite rights, and cable rights, among other things.”
Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and Director-General of Income Tax (Investigation) B.R. Balakrishnan said the department would soon call a meeting of representatives of the Kannada film industry to create awareness among those in the film industry about paying taxes.
“A lot of people are not filing tax returns. They include technicians and costume designers, among others,” he said.
Undisclosed money
Meanwhile, the investigation directorate of Karnataka and Goa has uncovered concealment of ₹12,268 crore of which ₹5,339 crore has been admitted by the tax payers. A total of ₹78 crore was seized last year. In the current year, the searches have resulted in admission and detection of undisclosed income of ₹4,038 crore and ₹6,134 crore respectively, with seizure amounting to ₹120 crore, a release said.
On Monday, the I-T Department felicitated 121 investigating officers who were part of the search and seizure of undisclosed income over a period of time.
