A writ petition was filed by actor Vijay against the order of the Commercial Tax Department directing him to pay a penalty for non-payment of entry tax for a BMW X5 luxury car imported by him from the United States in 2005.
Vijay contended that the Commercial Tax Department had imposed entry tax amounting to Rs 7,98,075 together with penalty of Rs 30,23,609 for the delayed payment of entry tax. He challenged the imposition of penalty.
The Madras High Court while diposing the petition directed that the penalty for non payment of entry tax could be levied only from January 2019 when a division bench of the court ruled that car importers were liable to pay entry tax. The court held that the penalty had to be calculated from the date of the order till the actual payment of the entry tax and not from the day of the actual import.
