The Commercial Taxes Department on Monday told the Madras High Court that actor C. Joseph Vijay did not voluntarily discharge his liability to pay entry tax for a BMW X5 luxury car imported by him from the United States in 2005 even after the dismissal of his writ petition on June 28, 2019.
Appearing before Justice R. Suresh Kumar, Additional Advocate General Haja Nazirudeen said the actor neither filed returns nor discharged his tax liability voluntarily after the dismissal of his 14-year-old case. Hence, a notice was issued to him on March 9, 2021, calling for import details and freight charges.
Another notice was also served in person on the actor’s advocate on March 19, 2021. Since there was no response, yet, another notice was sent by registered post on July 14, 2021, but it too did not evoke any response. Therefore, the officials ascertained the value of the car from the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
According to the information received from the RTO, the value of the car was found to be ₹63.84 lakh, and it was learnt that ₹2.34 lakh had been paid towards insurance. Using the information, the authorities demanded entry tax to the tune of ₹7.98 lakh along with penal interest running to ₹30.23 lakh.
The AAG, assisted by Additional Government Pleader Richardson Wilson, said the actor paid the tax amount of ₹7.98 lakh alone on September 17, 2021 under protest, and rushed to the High Court challenging the demand of penalty and recovery notices issued to him. He urged the court to dismiss the actor’s writ petition.
Though the actor had claimed to have sold the car in 2009, the AAG said the sale would not absolve him of his liability to file returns and pay the tax since he was the original importer of the vehicle. The law officer also filed a separate counter affidavit to a similar writ petition filed by music composer Harris Jayaraj.
The musician had imported a Hummer H3 in February 2010 and a Maserati Granturismo S Coupe in November 2010. After hearing elaborate arguments, the judge reserved his verdict in both the cases.
