Skip to main content

I-T base expands by 9.1 mn after note ban


The government´s to demonetise Rs 500  Rs 1,000 notes has the authorities bring 9.1 people under the tax money has lost its anonymity, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Tuesday.This is roughly one fourth of 37 million individuals who filed tax returns in 2015-16.

Launching a new website on ´Operation Clean Money´,a programme to bring illegal wealth on the books, Jaitley said demonetisation givenapush towards and led to an increase in the number of assessees and tax revenues.November 8 announcement had also instilled fear people about dealing he said.

“One message has gone out clearly as per the steps taken by the CBDT post demonetisation —it is no longer safe to deal with excessive cash and tax evaded money ... It is absolutely clear that those who have been indulging in all these are no longer safe,” Jaitley said.

Post demonetisation, there had been a hike in collection of personal income tax, the finance minister said, adding that the new portal would help honest tax payers.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra said there was 17 per cent growth in gross collection, which was Rs 1.46 lakh crore more than last year´s.

There was 22 per cent growth in efiled returns after demonetisation, he said.Total returns filed up to March were 52.8 million, and out of that 98 per cent were e-filed returns.

The number of PAN allotment increased from 100,000 to 200,000aday, and the tax department had allotted more than 300 million PANs to various persons, he said.

The Operation Clean Money was initiated by the Income Tax department on January 31 with the launch of everification of large cash deposits made during November 9 December 30, 2016, when people were allowed to deposit cash in demonetised currency in banks.

In the first phase, around 1.8 million people were identified in whose case, cash transactions did not appear in line with the taxpayer´s profile.

More than 972,000 taxpayers submitted their response without visiting Income tax office till May 12.

These taxpayers have provided response for 1.3 million accounts involving cash deposits of around Rs 2.89 lakh crore.Online responses have been assessed and no further action will be taken in cases of satisfactory explanation, said an official statement.

Furthermore, the department has also identified 371,000 new accounts relating to 158,000 taxpayers who made partial declaration of accounts and amounts in responses under phase 1 of Operation Clean Money.

Chandra said between November 2016 and March 2017, search actions were conducted on 900 groups which revealed undisclosed income of Rs 16,398 crore.Assets seized  were to the tune of Rs 900 crore of which Rs 636 crore was in cash.

Surveys were conducted in 8,239 cases which led to detection of undisclosed income of Rs 6,746 crore.The department referred more than 400 cases to the Enforcement
Directorate and the CBI that registered various cases.

While the ED has arrested 18 persons, the CBI arrested 38 persons.

"We want to convey a message that if you are doing something wrong, there is not only one department, other departments will also take action simultaneously.And, you cannot escape from it.So, that fear should be in the mind of the assessee if they are doing something wrong.There should be no fear in the mind of honest taxpayer," Chandra said.

In the phase2 of Operation Clean Money, the department will handle the high risk cases by selecting appropriate enforcement action (verification, search, survey, scrutiny).

In this phase, more than 6,000 transactions of high value property purchase and 6,600 cases of outward remittances will be subjected to detailed investigations under the operation.All the cases where no response is received will also be subjected to detailed enquiries.

In this phase, too, the department will contact through emails, department has 568,000 in addition to 1.8 cases under the Operation Clean of jewellers, petrol traders, property investigation will be shared.portal provides information at one place of step by guides, frequently asked questions, user guides, quick reference guides and training toolkits related to verification and other The portal will give of highrisk areas like petrol pumps and jewellers to help increase awareness about tax compliance.

At a xpayer can also go to the website and takeapledge of paying taxes and this will aid in ensuring voluntary compliance, Chandra said.

The income tax department has engaged two specialised data analytics agencies andabusiness process management agency to augment departmental capability in analysing large volumes of cash deposit data, track the compliance status of taxpayers and reporting entities.

Chandra saidadata analytics firm and the tax department made profiles of people depositing cash post note ban and graded the various cases under Operation Clean Money in three categories of ´high risk´, ´medium risk´ and ´low and very low risk´.

There are 100,000 persons under the high risk bracket wherein the department has initiated enforcement action through verification, search, survey and scrutiny.

For 754,000 persons in the the medium risk category, the tax department has started targeted campaign communicating with the assessee and explaining the findings in specific cases so that similarly placed persons can forsee the consequences.

For 595,000 persons in low risk and 341,000 persons in very low risk category, the department will monitor tax compliance in due course.

Business Standard New Delhi, 17th May 2017

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RBI deputy governor cautions fintech platform lenders on privacy concerns during loan recovery

  India's digital lending infrastructure has made the loan sanctioning system online. Yet, loan recovery still needs a “feet on the street” approach, Swaminathan J, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a media event on Tuesday, September 2, according to news agency ANI.According to the ANI report, the deputy governor flagged that fintech operators in the digital lending segment are giving out loans to customers with poor credit profiles and later using aggressive recovery tactics.“While loan sanctioning and disbursement have become increasingly digital, effective collection and recovery still require a 'feet on the street' and empathetic approach. Many fintech platforms operate on a business model that involves extending small-value loans to customers often with poor credit profiles,” Swaminathan J said.   Fintech platforms' business models The central bank deputy governor highlighted that many fintech platforms' business models involve providing sm

Credit card spending growth declines on RBI gaze, stress build-up

  Credit card spends have further slowed down to 16.6 per cent in the current financial year (FY25), following the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of unsecured lending norms and rising delinquencies, and increased stress in the portfolio.Typically, during the festival season (September–December), credit card spends peak as several credit card-issuing banks offer discounts and cashbacks on e-commerce and other platforms. This is a reversal of trend in the past three financial years stretching to FY21 due to RBI’s restrictions.In the previous financial year (FY24), credit card spends rose by 27.8 per cent, but were low compared to FY23 which surged by 47.5 per cent. In FY22, the spending increased 54.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Macquarie Research.ICICI Bank recorded 4.4 per cent gross credit losses in its FY24 credit card portfolio as against 3.2 per cent year-on-year. SBI Cards’ credit losses in the segment stood at 7.4 per cent in FY24 and 6.2 per cent in FY23, the rep

India can't rely on wealthy to drive growth: Ex-RBI Dy Guv Viral Acharya

  India can’t rely on wealthy individuals to drive growth and expect the overall economy to improve, Viral Acharya, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.Acharya, who is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), said after the Covid-19 pandemic, rural consumption and investments have weakened.We can’t be pumping our growth through the rich and expect that the economy as a whole will do better,” he said while speaking at an event organised by Elara Capital here.f there has to be a trickle-down, it should have actually happened by now,” Acharya said, adding that when the rich keep getting wealthier and wealthier, they have a savings problem.   “The bank account keeps getting bigger, hence they look for financial assets to invest in. India is closed, so our money can't go outside India that easily. So, it has to chase the limited financial assets in the country and