New Delhi: The Income-Tax (I-T) department on Friday claimed that as part of its effort to deal with blackmoney it has initiated criminal prosecution proceedings in a large number of cases of tax offenders and evaders.
Between April to November 2017, the department said it filed prosecution complaints in 2,225 cases compared to 784 for the same period last year, an increase of 184 per cent.
It further said that due to the decisive and focused action taken by it against tax evaders, the number of defaulters convicted by the courts also registered a sharp increase during the current fiscal.
“48 persons were convicted for various offences during the current year (upto the end of November, 2017) as compared to 13 convictions for the corresponding period in the immediately preceding year, marking an increase of 269 per cent,” it said.
The number of complaints compounded by the department during the current fiscal year (upto the end of November 2017) stands at 1,052 as against 575 in the corresponding period of the immediately preceding year, registering a rise of 83 per cent.
Compounding of offences is done when the defaulter admits to its offence and pays the compounding fee as per stipulated conditions.
Among the cases where court has ruled in favour of the tax officials include a Dehradun Court convicted one defaulter for holding undisclosed foreign bank account and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment for wilful attempt to evade tax and to two years for false statement in verification along with monetary penalty for each default, respectively.
In Bengaluru, the managing director of a company engaged in infrastructure projects was found guilty of non-deposit of TDS of over Rs 60 lakh and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of three months along with imposition of fine.
Similarly, a Mohali resident was held guilty of non- deposit of TDS within prescribed time and sentenced to one year jail along with fine.
In another case of Hyderabad, director of an infrastructure company was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of six months and fine for wilful attempt to evade tax.
She was simultaneously sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six months along with a fine for false statement in verification.
