News Analysis India

Tag: Income Tax

  • IT raids at MP Congress MLA’s premises, party links it to Presidential election

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: Income Tax Department raids started on Thursday at over 40 premises of two business groups, one of which is reportedly related to Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Sanjay Sharma.

    The raids started early in the morning at around 5 am at the premises of the Congress legislator and another business group in five cities, including Mumbai and four cities of MP, among them capital Bhopal, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Katni.

    According to the Income Tax Department sources, the searches at the premises of both the business groups have led to over Rs 2.5 crore unaccounted cash, besides precious jewellery and incriminating documents, whose scrutiny could lead the IT department sleuths to Benami transactions.

    Scrutiny of records and documents recovered during the ongoing raids at both business groups is likely to lead to tax evasion running into crores of rupees, sources confided. Documents related to suspected bogus companies and firms too have been recovered.

    Both the business groups, whose premises were searched by multiple teams of over 150-plus sleuths, have stakes in diversified activities, including mining, hotel industry, liquor business, sugar industry and construction and real estate sector.

    The premises of the Congress MLA where the search is underway included his residential premises in the Narsinghpur district.

    Sharma, the third time MLA from Tendukheda seat of Narsinghpur district is among one of the richest politicians in Madhya Pradesh. He had won the 2003 and 2013 assembly polls on the BJP ticket and retained the seat in 2018 polls on his old party Congress’s ticket.

    Meanwhile, the opposition Congress linked the ongoing IT Department action at the premises of its MLA, with the July 18 presidential election.

    The link between the ongoing IT department action and the presidential election was alleged by the ex-MP minister and three-times sitting MLA Umang Singhar, who earlier in the day had alleged that ruling BJP leader were making big money offers to many Congress MLAs, including him to vote for NDA’s candidate Droupadi Murmu in the July 18 election.

    BHOPAL: Income Tax Department raids started on Thursday at over 40 premises of two business groups, one of which is reportedly related to Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Sanjay Sharma.

    The raids started early in the morning at around 5 am at the premises of the Congress legislator and another business group in five cities, including Mumbai and four cities of MP, among them capital Bhopal, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Katni.

    According to the Income Tax Department sources, the searches at the premises of both the business groups have led to over Rs 2.5 crore unaccounted cash, besides precious jewellery and incriminating documents, whose scrutiny could lead the IT department sleuths to Benami transactions.

    Scrutiny of records and documents recovered during the ongoing raids at both business groups is likely to lead to tax evasion running into crores of rupees, sources confided. Documents related to suspected bogus companies and firms too have been recovered.

    Both the business groups, whose premises were searched by multiple teams of over 150-plus sleuths, have stakes in diversified activities, including mining, hotel industry, liquor business, sugar industry and construction and real estate sector.

    The premises of the Congress MLA where the search is underway included his residential premises in the Narsinghpur district.

    Sharma, the third time MLA from Tendukheda seat of Narsinghpur district is among one of the richest politicians in Madhya Pradesh. He had won the 2003 and 2013 assembly polls on the BJP ticket and retained the seat in 2018 polls on his old party Congress’s ticket.

    Meanwhile, the opposition Congress linked the ongoing IT Department action at the premises of its MLA, with the July 18 presidential election.

    The link between the ongoing IT department action and the presidential election was alleged by the ex-MP minister and three-times sitting MLA Umang Singhar, who earlier in the day had alleged that ruling BJP leader were making big money offers to many Congress MLAs, including him to vote for NDA’s candidate Droupadi Murmu in the July 18 election.

  • ‘IT officials told me I can become Chhattisgarh CM by framing CMO official’: Coal trader

    By PTI

    RAIPUR: A coal trader, whose premises were recently searched by the Income Tax department in Chhattisgarh, has claimed that IT sleuths told him that he could become the state chief minister if he uses his relations with MLAs of the ruling Congress to topple the Bhupesh Baghel government with the support of the “opposition”.

    In a video message being circulated on social media on Sunday, the trader, Suryakant Tiwari, claimed that Income Tax officials told him that he could become “Eknath Shinde of Chhattisgarh” if he frames a CMO official.

    The opposition BJP alleged that Tiwari’s statement was given at the behest of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, which it termed as baseless.

    The Congress, on the other hand, said the BJP was trying to destabilise a democratically-elected government in Chhattisgarh and cited “examples of Karnataka, MP,Manipur, and Maharashtra” .

    Tiwari also alleged that he was physically and mentally tortured after he refused to implicate a government officer posted at the state Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) by giving a false statement.

    “During the IT search since June 30 at my premises, IT sleuths threatened me and my family members. They mentally and physically tortured me and did not even allow me to sleep for three days.”

    “They forced me to link Soumya Chourasia, deputy secretary posted at the CMO, with my business anyhow and give statements against her. But the CM’s deputy secretary does not have any connection with my business activities, then, why should I implicate her?”, Tiwari asked.

    He admitted to having family relations with Chourasia and said that he meets her whenever he visits the CM’s office for “public works”.

    “I occasionally talk to her over the phone. I meet her whenever I visit the CM’s office for public works. She is not the only officer with whom I have good terms but both in BJP rule and the incumbent government, I share good relations with many officers. But IT officers wanted me to implicate her and therefore they also offered me to become the chief minister by toppling the government”, he alleged.

    He claimed that IT officials told him that he has good relations with 40-45 MLAs of Congress and asked him to make their list, and then with the support of the “vipaksh” (opposition), the government will be changed.

    “They said if I implicate Chourasia, I could become Eknath Shinde of Chhattisgarh,” he claimed.

    Shinde was sworn in as CM of Maharashtra on June 30 with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy, days after his rebellion against Shiv Sena leadership with 39 MLAs led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

    “I am a businessman and I have faith in the law of this country. I will go to court against the Income Tax department for forcing me to give a wrong statement. I will not succumb to their pressure. Unfortunately, Central agencies are being used as a tool for engineering a change of government in states”, he said.

    He also slammed senior BJP leader Raman Singh for demanding his arrest and said the search conducted by IT officials should not be given a political colour.

    The IT department had recently raided a Chhattisgarh-based group engaged in coal transportation and linked businesses and a senior state government officer on June 30.

    The searches were conducted in more than 30 locations in Raipur, Bhilai, Raigarh, Korba, Bilaspur and Surajpur.

    The premises of Tiwari and Chourasia were covered in the raid.

    After the video surfaced on social media, Congress and BJP fired barbs at each other.

  • Company does not die upon amalgamation, transferee firm can be fastened with I-T liability: SC

    The bench dealt with the concept of amalgamation in its judgement and said it was unlike the winding up of a corporate entity.

  • Direct tax collection soars 48 per cent in FY22, advance tax payment up 41 per cent

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s collection from tax on personal and corporate income jumped over 48 per cent in the current fiscal after a 41 per cent surge in advance tax payments, mirroring sustained economic recovery in a year that witnessed two waves of coronavirus infections.

    Net collections of direct taxes until March 16, 2022, in the fiscal year that started on April 1, 2021, stood at Rs 13.63 lakh crore compared to Rs 9.18 lakh crore in the same period a year back, an official statement said.

    The net collections in direct taxes, which is made up of income tax on individual income, corporation tax on profits of companies, property tax, inheritance tax and gift tax, in the current fiscal is 35 per cent higher than the collection of Rs 9.56 lakh crore in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20 (April 2019 to March 2020).

    Advance tax collections, the fourth installment of which was due on March 15, rose to Rs 6.62 lakh crore, up 40.75 per cent, the statement said, adding refunds aggregating to Rs 1.87 lakh crore have been issued in the current fiscal.

    Almost 53 per cent of all direct tax collection was from corporate tax, while 47 per cent came from personal income tax, including securities transaction tax (STT) on shares.

    The direct tax collections exceeded the budgeted Rs 11.08 lakh crore before the start of the fiscal and Rs 12.50 lakh crore revised estimates in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget for 2022-23 presented on February 1.

    The spread of the pandemic and the ensuing restrictions had impacted business activities in 2020-21.

    Towards the end of that fiscal, the economy had started to recover from the impact but was hit again by a second wave in April-May 2021 and a more recent third wave.

    The rapid containment of Omicron, vaccination and declines in new infections helped the recovery.

    “The figures of direct tax collections for the financial year 2021-22, as on March 16, 2022 show that net collections are at Rs 13,63,038.3 crore compared to Rs 9,18,430.5 crore over the corresponding period of the preceding financial year i.e FY 2020-21, representing an increase of 48.41 per cent,” the statement.

    The net collection in the current fiscal registered a growth of 42.50 per cent over the corresponding period of FY 2019-20 when the net collection was Rs 9,56,550.3 crore, and a growth of 34.96 per cent over the same period of FY 2018-19 when the net collection was Rs 10,09,982.9 crore.

    The net direct tax collections include corporate income tax (CIT) of Rs 7,19,035.0 crore (net of refund) and personal income tax (PIT) including STT of Rs 6,40,588.3 crore (net of refund).

    The gross collection of direct taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the FY 2021-22 (as on March 16, 2022) stood at Rs 15,50,364.2 crore compared to Rs 11,20,638.6 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding financial year.

    The gross collection for the FY 2019-20 was Rs 11,34,706.3 crore and that for FY 2018-19 was Rs 11,68,048.7 crore. The gross collection includes CIT of Rs 8,36,838.2 crore and PIT of Rs 7,10,056.8 crore.

    “Minor head wise collection (as on March 16, 2022), comprises advance tax of Rs 6,62,896.3 crore, tax deducted at source of Rs 6,86,798.7 crore, self-assessment tax of Rs 1,34,391.1 crore; regular assessment tax of Rs 55,249.5 crore; dividend distribution tax of Rs 7,486.6 crore and tax under other minor heads of Rs 3,542.1 crore,” the statement said.

    The cumulative advance tax collections for the current 2021-22 fiscal stood at Rs 6,62,896.3 crore as on March 16, 2022, as compared to Rs 4,70,984.4 crore for the corresponding period of the immediately preceding financial year.

    This was 50.5 per cent higher than Rs 4,40,281.4 crore advance tax collection in FY 2019-20 and 31 per cent more than Rs 5,06,714.2 crore mopped up in 2018-19.

    The advance tax figure of Rs 6,62,896.3 crore comprises CIT of Rs 4,84,451.8 crore and PIT of Rs 1,78,441.1 crore. “This amount is expected to increase as further information is awaited from banks,” the statement added.

    Refunds amounting to Rs 1,87,325.9 crore have also been issued in FY 2021-22 so far.

  • Revenue Secretary bats for higher tax on long-term capital gains

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj has questioned the rationale for only 10 per cent tax on long-term capital gains.

    “As much as Rs 95,000 crore was made in long-term capital gains tax in 2019-20. Out of which 92 per cent was made by people with over Rs 15 lakh annual income and 80 per cent by those with more than Rs 50 lakh annual. How can we justify 10 per cent tax on long-term capital gains, when the whole world is moving towards 20-30 per cent tax,” said Bajaj in an event in New Delhi on Saturday.

    He also reiterated the need for new tax law to make the rules simple. “The first Income Tax Act came in the 1860s, the second came in the early 1900s and the third Income Tax Act came in 1961. Perhaps this is the right time to write a new tax law,” the revenue secretary said in an event organised by the Tax India Online (TIOL) Knowledge Foundation.

    He said that some efforts were made in recent history (to overhaul the tax rules), but those efforts did not bear fruits. He said this time sincere efforts should be made to rewrite the tax laws.

    Talking about the complex tax rules in the country, Bajaj said if tax laws in the country are complex it is not entirely the fault of bureaucrats and the policymakers; it is also the fault of various lobbies who ask for tax exemptions every now and then. “The government has to agree to some of these demands,” he reiterated.

    The revenue secretary called for support from tax professionals and taxpayers to remove various exemptions offered to select groups/businesses to make the tax laws simpler.

    Talking about different rules for capital gains tax for different asset classes, Bajaj said there is no logic for having different time frames and tax rates for different assets.

    He rued the fact that the industry and tax professionals, instead of asking for the removal of different exemptions, they come up with the demand for new exemptions.

    Citing the example of the new income tax regime, which has lower tax slabs and no exemptions, the revenue secretary said unless the old tax regime is disincentivised, the new tax regime would not take over.

  • Will write to FM to reconsider relief for traders, middle-class: CAIT NCR

    By PTI

    NOIDA: Lamenting no sops for middle class and traders in the Budget 2022-23, the NCR chapter of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said it will be writing to the Union Finance Ministry to reconsider extending relief in these categories.

    CAIT’s NCR unit convenor Sushil Kumar Jain said in the budget, the government has given relief by reducing the tax rate on some items like textiles, electronics, and jewellery and it would definitely increase their sales.

    “The proposals on MSME are also a matter of joy but overall it looked like the government has hardly changed the budget from the last year and wants to move further for development like the previous years. There was no relief for the traders and middle class and they are disappointed with this budget,” Jain said in a statement.

    “We will again write a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for reconsidering the budget and if still possible, some relief can be given to traders and the middle class,” said Jain, also the president of Noida’s Sector 18 market association.

    He said the CAIT had been repeatedly urging the Centre for reconsidering aspects of the GST and Income Tax but there has been no hearing on that too.

  • IT department attaches properties worth Rs 1,000 crore allegedly belonging to Ajit Pawar

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Income Tax Department has attached properties allegedly belonging to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar worth Rs 1,000 crore, sources said on Tuesday.

    According to sources, one of these five properties includes Nirmal Tower situated at Nariman Point, Mumbai.

    Earlier in October, the department had also searched offices and residences of the promoters of Dynamix and DB Realty. Raids were also conducted at sugar mills funded by Dynamix and DB Realty and Pawar’s sisters’ houses and companies.

    Following these raids, the minister had called these raids “politically motivated”.

  • Income tax department serves notice to UP rickshaw puller asking him to pay over Rs 3 crore

    By PTI

    MATHURA: A rickshaw puller approached the police in this Uttar Pradesh district on Sunday after he was served a notice by the Income Tax (IT) department, asking him to pay over Rs 3 crore.

    Pratap Singh, a resident of Amar Colony in the Bakalpur area here, submitted a complaint at the Highway police station, claiming fraud after he received the notice from the IT department.

    Station House Office (SHO) Anuj Kumar said no case was registered on the basis of Singh’s complaint but the police will look into the matter.

    Meanwhile, Singh uploaded a video clip on social media in which he narrated the sequence of events.

    He said on March 15, he applied for a PAN card at the Jan Suvidha Kendra in Bakalpur, owned by Tej Prakash Upadhyay, as his bank had asked him to submit it.

    Subsequently, he got a coloured photocopy of the PAN card from one Sanjai Singh of Bakalpur. Since he is illiterate, he could not differentiate between an original PAN card and a coloured photocopy of the same, the rickshaw puller said in the clip.

    He had to run from pillar to post for about three months to get his PAN card. Singh said he got a call from IT officials on October 19 and was served a notice, asking him to pay Rs 3,47,54,896.

    He said the officials told him that someone had impersonated him and obtained a GST number on his name for running a business and the turnover of the trader for 2018-19 was Rs 43,44,36,201.

    Singh said he was advised by the IT officials to get an FIR lodged as somebody had committed fraud impersonating him.

  • I-T raids across multiple cities unearth digital evidence of tax fraud 

    By Express News Service

    BENGALURU:  The Income Tax Department has carried out search and seizure operations on 37 premises spread across multiple cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Noida and Bengaluru.

    “The simultaneous searches were conducted on September 30 on groups/individuals involved in varied businesses such as cable manufacturing, real estate, textile, printing machinery, hotels, logistics etc,” stated an official release from the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

    “During the search operations, several incriminating documents, loose sheets, diaries, emails and other digital evidence have been unearthed, which indicate ownership of a large number of foreign bank accounts and immovable properties, unreported to the I-T Department,” added the release.

    “These groups/individuals utilised the services of a Dubai-based financial service provider to create a dubious and complex web of foreign companies and trusts based in tax havens such as Mauritius, United Arab Emirates (UAE), British Virgin Islands (BVI), Gibraltar etc. to hold their unaccounted assets,” the MoF added.

    “The credits in the bank accounts of these groups and individuals maintained by the Dubai-based financial service provider exceed $100 million (about Rs 750 crore) accumulated over a decade and were found to be parked in bank accounts in Switzerland, UAE, Malaysia and several other countries. Evidence gathered during the search operation reveals that the undisclosed funds parked abroad have been used by these groups for acquiring immovable properties in several countries such as the UK, Portugal, UAE etc, in the name of defunct companies incorporated abroad, with funds layered through foreign bank accounts, for meeting the personal expenses of the promoters and their family members abroad and routing back funds in their Indian entities,” the official statement added.

    The MoF further stated, “Evidence related to bogus payments to suppliers for generating cash, cash expenditure, hawala transactions, over-invoicing has also been gathered. Unaccounted cash and jewellery to the tune of over Rs 2 crore have been seized from the residential and business premises. More than 50 bank lockers have been kept under restraint.” 

  • Income tax portal’s tech issues being progressively addressed; 1.19 crore ITRs filed: CBDT

    #39;Of these, over 76.2 lakh taxpayers have used the online utility of the portal to file the returns, #39; the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.