Taxmen ask banks to report cash deposits before demonetisation
Department to rope in auditors to probe deposits; govt asks lenders to obtain PAN from all account holders before Feb 28
Seeking to analyse the banking transactions in months before the government announced its demonetisation drive on November 8, the incometax department has asked lenders to report cash deposits in savings accounts between April 1 and November 9, 2016.
Besides, banks have also been directed to ask account holders, who did not furnished PAN (Permanent Account Number) or Form 60 (for those without PAN) at the time of opening bank accounts, to do so by February 28 this year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a notification issued on Sunday.
The tax department had earlier asked banks and post offices to report to it all deposits above ₹2.5 lakh in various savings accounts and more than ₹12.50 lakh in current accounts made between November 10 and December 30, 2016.
Also, cash deposits exceeding ₹50,000 in a single day had to be reported.
With an estimated ₹15 lakh crore worth of junked currency notes coming back into the banking system after demonetisation, the tax department has started analysing the trends in bank deposits.
It is also in talks with leading global tax consultants, including EY, KPMG and Price water house Coopers, for forensic audit of the data to see if any of it is laundered money, a tax official said.
Following the note ban, as many as 60 lakh individuals and companies made large deposits totalling ₹7 lakh crore in old notes.
The department has also redflagged around ₹4 lakh crore deposited by various individuals. The department already has info from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) regarding the amount of deposits that have been made in dormant and Jan Dhan accounts as well as urban cooperative banks.
According to data available with the tax department, deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have more than doubled to ₹87,000 crore in 45 days following demonetisation. Between November 10 and December 23, ₹41,523 crore have been deposited in 48 lakh Jan Dhan accounts.
Besides, small cash deposits of ₹30,000-50,000 have been made in 4.86 lakh accounts, totaling ₹2,000 crore.