Demo: I-T to issue notices to suspicious cash depositors

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department will soon issue notices to those who have deposited “suspicious” amounts of money in banks post-demonetisation and have not responded to taxman’s preliminary communication, the CBDT said on Tuesday.

Sushil Chandra, chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said despite the closing of I-T returns filing period, some entities and individuals failed to file their tax returns, as required under the ‘Operation Clean Money’ (OCM) initiated by the government to check black money post demonetisation.

“The government has already taken all measures under the Operation Clean Money. We have given enough time to people to file their returns and come out clean,” he said.

But, we have found that even after the last date of returns, a large number of persons have not filed the same, Chandra said.

“So, the next step would be that the persons who have not filed their returns, we are going to issue them notices under section 142 (1) of the I-T Act (inquiry before assessment),” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) here.

The people who have filed their returns will be examined against the amounts they have deposited during the period of demonetisation so that we can see whether they have correctly disclosed their income or not, the CBDT chief said.

Chandra noted that demonetisation and the subsequent OCM led to an overall increase of 20 percent concerning the people who file their I-T returns.

“It (Operation Clean Money) has been a very successful operation by the department. We analysed the number of returns that were filed and found that in the individual category there is an increase of 23.5 percent.

“If you see the persons who have availed the presumptive scheme of tax filing, there has been an increase of 50 percent,” the top boss of the tax department said.

This shows that people want to come out clean, he said.

Overall, there is a growth of 20 percent in the I-T return filings which shows that “people are clear about their obligation”, he said.

The CBDT chairman added that over 20,000 cases of returns filed post the note ban, have been selected for a detailed procedure of scrutiny by the taxman.

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department is matching the “tax profiles” of all property registrations of above Rs 30 lakh under the provisions of the anti-benami Act, as action against illicit asset holders is set to intensify, the CBDT chief said on Tuesday.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra said the taxman is also investigating those shell companies and their directors whose operations were recently “debarred” by the government as part of the drive to check black money generation through their abuse.

The top boss of the I-T department said that till now, the taxman has attached 621 properties, including some bank accounts, and the total amount involved in these cases, being probed under the Benami Transactions Act, is about Rs 1,800 crore.

“We will destroy all instruments that are used to convert black money into white. This also includes shell companies.

Also, the department is checking the income tax profiles of all properties which have a registry value of over Rs 30 lakh.

“We get this information under the law. If these profiles are found suspicious or incorrect, action will be taken (under the Benami Act),” Chandra said.

He made the remarks while interacting with reporters after inaugurating the Income Tax Department pavilion at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) which began at Pragati Maidan here on Tuesday.

Chandra said they are taking the Benami assets cases “very seriously” and the tax officials have done a lot of work on this front.

“We have opened 24 units (of the I-T to implement the anti-benami Act) all over the country. We are getting information from different sources,” he said.

“Our efforts in this direction are being intensified further,” he said.

Chandra said that the taxman is also matching the data “of shell companies which have been debarred recently”.

If these companies have some benami property or any other financial transaction that the I-T department has received and that is not matching, action will be taken, he said.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the two highest value banknotes of the time, from circulation on November 8 last year, the I-T department had warned people against depositing their unaccounted banknotes in accounts maintained by someone else.

Such an act, it had said, would attract criminal charges under the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, applicable on both movable and immovable properties.

The I-T department is the nodal department to enforce the Benami Act in the country.

The department started initiating actions under the new Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 from November 1 last year. The law provides for a maximum punishment of seven years in jail and a fine.