The Income Tax Department has identified another 5.56 lakh people whose tax profiles are found to be inconsistent with the money deposited by them post demonetisation in October last year.
With an aim to detect black money generation post demonetisation, the I-T department carried out the second phase of ‘Operation Clean Money’, under which it used information received under the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) from banks to identify additional cases.
“These are persons whose tax profiles were found to be inconsistent with the cash deposits made by them during the demonetisation period,” a finance ministry statement said.
All identified persons are now being informed through email and SMS for submitting their response online.
Over 1.04 lakh persons who did not disclose all bank account details during e-verification in the first phase of operation clean money have also been identified. In its the first phase, which was launched on 31 January 17.92 lakh persons had been identified for e- verification of large cash deposits, of which 9.72 lakh people had submitted an online response.
When the second phase of Operation Clean Money was launched, the I-T department had said it will investigate over 60,000 individuals, including 1,300 high-risk persons.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy-making body of the department, had then said it has detected undisclosed income over Rs 9,334 crore between November 9, 2016, and February 28, 2017. The information in respect of the cases and accounts identified has been made available in the e-filing window of the PAN holder in the e-filing portal of the I-T department.
The PAN holder can view the information using the link ‘Cash Transactions 2016’ under ‘Compliance’ section of the portal. The taxpayer will be able to submit an online explanation. In April, the tax department had notified the new ITR forms which added a new column seeking information on cash deposits above Rs 2 lakh made during the demonetisation period.
This information will be matched with the information in the possession of the I-T department. “The taxpayer should ensure that ITR is compliant with the amount deposited in bank accounts during the period of demonetisation and while computing income, the amounts so deposited are considered/ taken into account while paying taxes,” the statement said.
