Trouble for businessmen, professionals who bought expensive watches, jewellery, art
It was a dream for a top New Delhi multinational executive to buy the 2015 edition of his favourite watch brand for Rs.20 lakh. The watch is now a nightmare metronome keeping him awake at night after the income tax sent him a notice last week for the purchase he made on his credit card.
About 10 days after the government said the income tax is scrutinising about 7 lakh high value transactions, the department has started sending notices to those who have bought luxury goods. Most of the notices are served to well-known businessmen, traders and even professionals like consultants, lawyers, doctors and architects. These notices were also sent to those who purchased luxury items with credit cards or provided PAN numbers to the sellers while buying it.
“I had not given it much thought before buying the watch, now all I can think of is the notice,“ the executive who bought the Rs.20 lakh watch and is earning about Rs.5 crore annually , told ET.
Tax experts say that though the highly paid salaried have come under the scrutiny , they may not be the primary targets. It seems to be a scare tactic to coral those with black money so that they declare that by September end under its income declaration scheme (IDS).
ET could not independently confirm the number of total notices sent by the tax department. However, top tax consultants and lawyers, some of whom are tackling such cases for their clients, claim that anywhere around 4,000 to 5,000 notices may have been sent in last week alone. In some cases, even senior lawyers have been issued tax notices for buying luxury goods.
The I-T notices read more like a prod to declare any undeclared assets under IDS or face the music. Those served notices will have to file a reply within a month. In some cases, they may have to visit the in come tax office.
According to people in the know, the tax notices were mainly sent to those who had bought luxury goods costing at least Rs.4 lakh in or after 2013. Also notices are sent to those who had purchased expensive watches, jewellery, paintings or artefacts.
Revenue officials had been collecting data from the sellers from some time now, say industry trackers.
“About six months ago, we got notices from the income tax department to fur nish details of customers who bought watches upwards of Rs.50,000. Whatever information we had, we gave it,“ said Yasho Saboo, president of the All India Federation of Horological Industries, a watchmakers' body and CEO of Ethos Watch Boutiques that sells brands like Rolex, Breguet, Carl F Bucherer and Jaeger LeCoultre.
Another retailer of luxury watches said there has been a considerable drop in business and that customers were sent I-T notices in cities regardless of the mode of payment. “If customers are going to be harassed in spite of furnishing the required documents, then people will stop buying here and will buy overseas. We need more support from the authorities on this.“
“There are also some individuals who have bought expensive goods, mainly jewellery, with cash and not submitted their PAN cards. These individuals could be in big trouble,“ said a tax consultant who has been advising some of his clients thus.
Last week, the government had said that the tax department is scrutinising around 90 lakh high value transactions concluded between 2009 and the current financial year and is zeroing in on suspicious transactions with the help of in house analytics.
In May this year the government started adapting a big data analytics tool that basically raises red flags from the total income tax data, both corporate and personal income tax. The income tax department has identified 7 lakh “high risk clusters“ with about 14 lakh transactions, it said last week.
An email query sent to department of finance and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) did not elicit any response.
Industry trackers say that while tax notices may have been justified, those selling luxury goods in India may be impacted.
Use Unique Identifiers
ET VIEW
Slapping notices on people who have made high value purchases without quoting their permanent account numbers (PAN) will not yield huge revenues. Nor will it cure the menace of black money.Tagging every financial transaction with a unique identifier, a person's PAN or Aadhaar will ensure that audit trails do not snap on transactions reported through the tax information network. The department must make intelligent use of technology to nab evaders, rather than raids that are archaic instruments in law enforcement.Institutional reform to make poll funding transparent, and speedy adoption of GST will stem the generation of black money.
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 02 August 2016
It was a dream for a top New Delhi multinational executive to buy the 2015 edition of his favourite watch brand for Rs.20 lakh. The watch is now a nightmare metronome keeping him awake at night after the income tax sent him a notice last week for the purchase he made on his credit card.
About 10 days after the government said the income tax is scrutinising about 7 lakh high value transactions, the department has started sending notices to those who have bought luxury goods. Most of the notices are served to well-known businessmen, traders and even professionals like consultants, lawyers, doctors and architects. These notices were also sent to those who purchased luxury items with credit cards or provided PAN numbers to the sellers while buying it.
“I had not given it much thought before buying the watch, now all I can think of is the notice,“ the executive who bought the Rs.20 lakh watch and is earning about Rs.5 crore annually , told ET.
Tax experts say that though the highly paid salaried have come under the scrutiny , they may not be the primary targets. It seems to be a scare tactic to coral those with black money so that they declare that by September end under its income declaration scheme (IDS).
ET could not independently confirm the number of total notices sent by the tax department. However, top tax consultants and lawyers, some of whom are tackling such cases for their clients, claim that anywhere around 4,000 to 5,000 notices may have been sent in last week alone. In some cases, even senior lawyers have been issued tax notices for buying luxury goods.
The I-T notices read more like a prod to declare any undeclared assets under IDS or face the music. Those served notices will have to file a reply within a month. In some cases, they may have to visit the in come tax office.
According to people in the know, the tax notices were mainly sent to those who had bought luxury goods costing at least Rs.4 lakh in or after 2013. Also notices are sent to those who had purchased expensive watches, jewellery, paintings or artefacts.
Revenue officials had been collecting data from the sellers from some time now, say industry trackers.
“About six months ago, we got notices from the income tax department to fur nish details of customers who bought watches upwards of Rs.50,000. Whatever information we had, we gave it,“ said Yasho Saboo, president of the All India Federation of Horological Industries, a watchmakers' body and CEO of Ethos Watch Boutiques that sells brands like Rolex, Breguet, Carl F Bucherer and Jaeger LeCoultre.
Another retailer of luxury watches said there has been a considerable drop in business and that customers were sent I-T notices in cities regardless of the mode of payment. “If customers are going to be harassed in spite of furnishing the required documents, then people will stop buying here and will buy overseas. We need more support from the authorities on this.“
“There are also some individuals who have bought expensive goods, mainly jewellery, with cash and not submitted their PAN cards. These individuals could be in big trouble,“ said a tax consultant who has been advising some of his clients thus.
Last week, the government had said that the tax department is scrutinising around 90 lakh high value transactions concluded between 2009 and the current financial year and is zeroing in on suspicious transactions with the help of in house analytics.
In May this year the government started adapting a big data analytics tool that basically raises red flags from the total income tax data, both corporate and personal income tax. The income tax department has identified 7 lakh “high risk clusters“ with about 14 lakh transactions, it said last week.
An email query sent to department of finance and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) did not elicit any response.
Industry trackers say that while tax notices may have been justified, those selling luxury goods in India may be impacted.
Use Unique Identifiers
ET VIEW
Slapping notices on people who have made high value purchases without quoting their permanent account numbers (PAN) will not yield huge revenues. Nor will it cure the menace of black money.Tagging every financial transaction with a unique identifier, a person's PAN or Aadhaar will ensure that audit trails do not snap on transactions reported through the tax information network. The department must make intelligent use of technology to nab evaders, rather than raids that are archaic instruments in law enforcement.Institutional reform to make poll funding transparent, and speedy adoption of GST will stem the generation of black money.
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 02 August 2016
Comments
Post a Comment