Sleuths of the Income Tax (I-T) Department carried out inspections at the offices of film producers, including Antony Perumbavoor, Anto Joseph and Listin Stephen, in Kochi on Friday.
The TDS inspections were conducted to check any violations of improper deduction of taxes and failure to remit them to the Government account after deduction. The films of Mr. Perumbavoor, Mr. Joseph and Mr. Stephen were released on OTT platforms at a time when theatres had remained shut owing to the pandemic.
The officials checked whether the financial earnings and transactions in these deals were in accordance with the rules and regulations. The I-T filings made by the producers were also verified.
‘Routine exercise’
Mr. Stephen confirmed the inspections, while terming it as a “routine exercise” by the I-T Department. “We had filed all tax returns and I-T filings according to the norms and presented it before the officials”, he said.
Mr. Perumbavoor and Mr. Joseph were not available for comment. Mr. Joseph’s Malik and Mr. Perumbavoor’s Drishyam 2 were released on an OTT platform amidst the pandemic situation. Besides Malayalam, Mr. Stephen is also active as a producer in the Tamil film industry.
