I-T dept to investigate DSS chief Ram Rahim's properties

The court ordered to scan both movable and immovable assets

Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday directed IT Return Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to conduct investigations into the residences of Dera Sacha Sauda leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

 

The Punjab and Haryana high court ordered to scan both movable and immovable property.  → Income Tax News ←

Speaking to media Navkiran Singh, legal professional of the petitioner informed that, "officials of the IT dept and ED were given the freedom that during case they want to have a look at any files they could have a look at them within the Accountant general (AG) office Haryana."

 

"The high court also requested court Commissioner who searched all of the premises of Dera to deliver a copy of the document to the authorities of India too," he added.

The court was listening to a Public interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ravinder Dhull regarding losses took place throughout Haryana violence which evoked after sentencing of the self-proclaimed god Ram Rahim.

"They (Investigative agencies) will look at if there is any violation of any income tax act, income tax provisions or this kind of offences which falls inside the prevention of cash laundering act, Singh said.

 

The court has additionally ordered for the constitution of two tribunals within the matter, one for Punjab and..... Read Full Article

I-T action on USV India puts spotlight on pharma marketing code, tax rules

Tax sleuths raid firm's premises in Mumbai, Nagpur, and Rajkot; USV denies violation of any regulations

The income tax department raid on drug maker USV India on costs of paying off doctors to prescribe its drugs has placed the spotlight on government norms on moral advertising practices and tax rules.

The times of India stated on Tuesday that the Income tax Return department had unearthed a nexus among the pharmaceutical company and medical doctors and had raided USV's premises in Mumbai, Nagpur, and Rajkot. USV confirmed the raid however denied violation of any guidelines.

 

Pharmaceutical industry executives expressed surprise over I-T raids on a drug maker, while some professionals said the problem will be purely tax-related — regarding the remedy of expenses for tax calculation. Deviating from its earlier stance, the income Tax Appellate Tribunal had in January allowed drug company PHL Pharma to claim a deduction on charges of Rs 23 crore, attributable to travel and accommodation for seminars and subscription of journals for medical doctors, among other things.

The income tax filing departmental action, but, has brought to the fore a draft policy to curb freebies and payments to doctors. A mandatory code for pharmaceutical marketing practices has been putting fire for the past numerous months. The department of pharmaceuticals' plan to introduce the code under the essential Commodities Act has faced competition from the law ministry and the industry.

The draft code proposed with the aid of the government goals to regulate unethical marketing practices and prohibits pharmaceutical agencies from giving presents, cash, and other benefits to doctors. in addition, under the code, companies are barred from extending hospitality, like hotel, or arranging trips for docs. The draft proposes consequences and revocation of product approvals in.... Read Full Article

Govt to widen tax base, asks I-T dept to add 12.5 mn filers in FY18

A new I-T return filer is defined as a person who has not filed return in the previous years but is liable to do so under the law

The Income Tax department has been tasked to add 12.5 million new return tax filers within the current financial year as part of the authorities's plan to widen the tax base within the country.

 

The central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that makes policy choices for the I-T department, has directed the taxman to adopt "targeted efforts to significantly increase the tax base in the current economic year of 2017-18."

The target, the CBDT directive accessed via PTI said, is to add 12.five million new I-T return filers.

 

 

A new Tax filing is described as a person who has no longer filed return in the previous years however is liable to do so under the regulation. The taxman has to add such entities and get them to do the filing of their I-T returns.

The Hyderabad & the Pune areas of the department had been given the highest targets to add 12,80,000 & 11,80,000 new filers respectively.

They're followed by Chennai with 10,47,000 new filers & Chandigarh at 10,41,000 new filers.

→ Efiling of Income tax ←                       → Income Tax Efiling ←

The plan to widen the tax base within the country was also discussed and finalised for the duration of the recently concluded 'Rajswa Gyansangam' conference of top I-T officers held right here.

The CBDT, in an official statement, had stated during the conference "techniques of tax base were discussed in detail with unique focus on verification of data accumulated during demonetisation and statement of financial transactions(SFT).... Read Full Article

1,000 bank branches open Aadhaar updation centres as Sept 30 deadline nears

UIDAI has directed them to open these Bank Aadhaar Kendras by September 30, 2017 for the convenience of the people

 

The UIDAI has said over 1,000 bank branches of 42 private and public sector banks have opened Aadhaar enrollment and updation centres within their premises.

The Aadhaar issuing body further said it has received commitments for opening of such centres in 15,000 bank branches "at the earliest".

"Bank Aadhaar Kendras are being established with a view to make the Aadhaar verification process of bank accounts convenient for the people as it has become mandatory under amended Prevention of Money Laundering Rules to verify bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31, 2017," Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI said in a statement.

→ Income Tax ←  → Efiling Of Income Tax ←  → Tax ←

In July, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked private as well as public banks to open Aadhaar enrollment and updation facilities in one out of 10 branches, and the initial deadline for doing so was August- end.

Earlier this month, the UIDAI gave banks one more month to open Aadhaar enrollment centres in a stipulated 10 per cent of branches, but said it will impose Rs 20,000 as fine per uncovered branch after September 30.

The reprieve was granted as many banks had sought additional time from UIDAI for setting up such facility on their..... Read Full Article

Cafe Coffee Day raids: Income tax dept detects Rs 650 cr concealed income

Searches concluded with the group's officials admitting to concealed income exceeding Rs 650 crore

 

 

The Income Tax Department raids on Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) retail chain since Thursday found Rs 650 crore concealed income from the documents seized, said an official on Sunday.

"Documents seized from the search operations at 25 places of Cafe Coffee Day and its group companies in Karnataka, Mumbai and Chennai have revealed concealed income of over Rs 650 crore," a senior tax official told IANS here.

The search and seize operations, which began on September 21, concluded on Sunday evening in the offices of the group involved in coffee, tourism, IT Return and other areas.

"The searches concluded with the group's officials admitting to concealed income exceeding Rs 650 crore and the detection of undisclosed income, which is expected to be a much higher figure," said another tax filing official in an e-mail to IANS.

The offices and residence of CCD's founder-owner V G Siddhartha and its other officials in Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Mysuru across Karnataka were also searched during the last four days. Siddhartha is the elder son-in-law of former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who was also Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004 but earlier this year left the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"There are a number of other issues, including violations of other statutes on which there is no disclosure but relevant evidence has been found. These will be pursued effectively as part of our investigation," added the official in.... Read Full Article

One nation, one tax: Nearly 3 million GST returns filed in August

Almost half came on final day; Network chief says system stood up to huge test and all glitches would be soon resolved

 

 

As many as 2.97 million assessees have filed the summary input-output return under the new goods and services tax (GST) for the month of August (‘GSTR 3B’), much less than the 4.6 million that came for the month of July.

As many as 46 per cent of filers — 1.37 million — submitted Income tax return on Wednesday, the deadline for doing so.

However, the July returns had risen after an extension of five to eight days was given to assessees, depending on whether they wanted to claim input tax credit for pre-GST stocks or not. The GST Network (GSTN), the entity handling the information technology backbone for the new structure, is hopeful that return filing would equal the tally of July.

→ Income Tax Filing ←  → Income Tax efiling ←

Even if the same number of filers are there for the month of August as in July, proportionately it would be much less. This is so because there were only 5.95 million registrations under the GST in July, excluding those opting for the composition scheme. Now, a little over nine million businesses have registered under the GST. Of this, around one million was for the composition scheme; these may file quarterly returns.

Taxes to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore were collected in the maiden month of the roll-out. The central GST (CGST) and state GST (SGST) laws mandate an interest levy at 18 per cent for delayed payment of tax. And, Rs 100 a day will be levied for... Read Full Article

Discrepancies in income? Assets of 7 MPs, 98 MLAs don't add up

These lawmakers include seven Lok Sabha members and 98 members of state assemblies

The Income Tax Department on Monday informed the Supreme Court that there are 105 lawmakers in whose case the verification of declaration of assets have revealed discrepancies in their assets and their known sources of income.

These lawmakers include 7 Lok Sabha members and 98 members of state assemblies and their names came as the outcome of the verification of the list compiled by the Association of Democratic Reforms.

The Income Tax Department made the disclosure to the apex court in its affidavit filed in response to a direction by the bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer issued last week in the course of the hearing of a PIL by NGO Lok Prahari seeking to know the sources of the income of the lawmakers contributing to the increase in their assets and also that of their spouse and dependent children. → Tax ←

Besides this, the NGO which has also been joined by the ADR has made several other prayers including declaration of contracts of the candidate, his wife and dependent children with the government and its agencies.

The matter will come up for hearing on..... Read Full Article

All eyes on black money: I-T even looking into FY11 cash deposits, realty purchases

I-T dept may order reassessment if no response is given or the response is found to be unsatisfactory

 

Cash deposits made even before the Modi government's demonetisation drive that began in November last year are under the income tax (I-T) department's scanner, reported the Economic Times on Thursday.

According to the financial daily, income tax efiling sleuths have gone as far back as financial year 2011 in their hunt for suspicious cash deposits and sought explanations from the depositors in question. Further, the I-T department has sent notices to home buyers where the declared value of the purchase was found to be lower than the prices that prevailed in past transactions in that area.

In fact, according to the financial daily, income tax filing authorities have classified cases from FY11 as high priority since they would become time-barred soon. In case the tax sleuths don't receive a response regarding the cash deposits under their scanner or the response is not found to be satisfactory, they can order a reassessment.

According to the report, the I-T department has asked individuals and entities involved in the transactions in question to provide their permanent account numbers and the returns they filed for the financial year in question. → Efiling of Income Tax ←

The move comes at a time when the I-T department is moving ahead with concluding investigations into high-risk category individuals suspected of evading taxes. In an interview with Livemint, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra said that his department would conclude its investigations into the financial dealings of close to 100,000 individuals who were suspected of tax evasion... Read Full Article

Rs 2.89 lakh cr deposited post note ban by 0.97 mn people under I-T radar

I-T says 14,000 properties of over Rs 1 crore each under scrutiny as owners have not filed returns

 

 

The Income Tax Department (ITD) today said that about 14,000 properties worth over Rs 1 crore each are under its scrutiny as their owners have not filed income returns.

Using data analytics, 13.33 lakh accounts of some 9.72 lakh persons with unusual cash deposits of around Rs 2.89 lakh crore was identified and response sought.

The resource was captured "within a short span of 3-4 weeks," the statement said, without saying how many of them were genuine deposits and how many were unaccounted money. → Income Tax Filing ←

It also did not give details of tax collected on unaccounted money.

The Operation Clean money has since moved into the next phase that "includes enforcement actions in high risk cases, taxpayer engagement through a dedicated website in medium risk cases and close monitoring in low risk cases.

"The exercise has also unearthed large number of persons and clusters having suspect transactions. These include about 14,000 properties of more than Rs 1 crore each where persons have not even filed Income Tax Return.

"The investigations are in progress," the statement said.

The high, medium and low risk cases have been identified through the use of advanced data analytics, including integration of data sources, relationship clustering and fund tracking.... Read Full Article

Govt extends deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar to December 31

The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar previously was August 31

 

 

The government has extended the deadline for linking income tax PAN with Aadhaar by four months to December 31.

The previous deadline was August 31.  → Efiling Of Income Tax ←

Recently, the deadline for Aadhaar linking to avail oneself of social sector schemes had been extended till December-end.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says every person with PAN as on July 1, 2017, and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar must intimate his Aadhaar number to tax authorities.

→ Tax Filing ←       → Income Tax Efiling ←

However, those categorised as non-resident Indians as per income tax laws, people who are not citizens of India, those above 80 years of age and residents of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir had been exempt from the requirement.

The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar previously was July 31, but was extended to August 31.... Read Full Article

Now, an Instagram post of your new car, watch may lead taxmen to your door

The dept will analyse mismatches in income declarations and spending patterns to trace tax evasion

 

A photo of your shiny new luxury car on Instagram or a costly watch on Facebook may lead the taxman to your door as the tax department from next month will begin amassing virtual information to trace black money.

'Project Insight', likely to be launched next month, will use big data analytics to match information from social media sites to deduce mismatches between spending pattern and income declaration. → IT Return ←

The tax department will analyse mismatches in income declarations and spending patterns to trace tax evasions and black money, an official said.

The government has also made linking of PAN with Aadhaar mandatory to get a 360-degree view of a person's income and assets.

The income tax department had last year signed a pact with L&T Infotech for implementation of Project Insight, which is designed to strengthen the non-intrusive information driven approach for improving tax compliance.

"Currently beta testing is on and the integrated platform for Project Insight should be launched by next month," the official told PTI.

Project Insight has been initiated by the income tax department for data mining, collection, collation and processing of such information for effective risk management with a view to widen and deepen the tax base..... Read Full Article