I Have Never Evaded Income Tax, Says Tamil Star Vijay

Tamil star Vijay breaks the silence around allegations of him having evaded taxes for five years

Vijay in a scene from Puli

After allegations were levelled against Tamil superstar Vijay for evading taxes over the last five years, the actor has finally reacted by calling the reports as baseless. Vijay has also requested the media to stop spreading malicious lies.

Income tax sleuths carrying out searches in the homes and offices of notable personalities is a long-followed, natural practice. They raided my office and home last week to probe whether I have done any tax evasion or not. My family and staff offered full cooperation to the officials and presented all the documents of my income tax returns with evidence. I have been religiously paying income tax, wealth tax and professional tax on all my assets and income till this very financial year.
– Vijay

The income tax department recently raided the offices and residences of Vijay, Samantha, Nayanthara, producers PT Selvakumar, Shibu Thameens, Kalaipuli S Thanu, Madurai Anbu a day before the fantasy-adventure thriller Puli hit the screens.

The Hindu quoted a senior income tax official saying, “What we found during the raid was all of them did pay tax but there was a partial evasion. They were not paying the full amount. The financiers and producers have evaded this tax amount for last six years, the actresses for two years and actor Vijay for five years.”

The reports on Vijay evading income tax spread like wildfire on social media and grabbed the attention of film buffs that regularly follow Tamil cinema.

In a bid to clear all these allegations against him, Vijay said, “Contradictory reports in a section of the media have caused immense distress to me and my family members. The reports are outright misleading and there is no iota of truth in it. I kindly request the media to stop siding with false accusations.”