400 cases reveal untaxed income worth Rs 2,000 crore

New Delhi: The Income-Tax (I-T) department has found undisclosed income worth Rs 2,000 crores during nationwide raids and searches, and also seized `130 crores in cash and jewellery after the Centre’s demonetisation decision about a month ago.

The department has conducted swift investigations into more than 400 cases after the November 8 decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes as part of a crackdown on tax dodgers and counterfeiters.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has found serious irregularities beyond the preview of the I-T Act, and decided to refer such cases to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI to examine criminal conduct and ensure immediate and necessary action.

Over 30 such references have already been made to the ED, and are also being sent to the CBI. The government got information of several places where the old currency notes were being exchanged at a discount and even being used to purchase gold.

The action also follows the Centre’s four-month window for suspected tax dodgers in India to declare their hidden wealth. The government’s compliance window had ended on September 30 with Rs 67,382 crores declared, yielding about Rs 30,000 crores to the government in taxes, half of it in the current fiscal itself.

Bengaluru’s investigation unit of the I-T department has sent maximum references (18) to the ED. These are cases in which undisclosed cash in new high-denomination notes was seized.

Mumbai’s unit has referred a case in which Rs 80 lakhs in new high-denomination currency notes was seized. Ludhiana’s unit has referred two cases in which seizures of Rs 14,000 and Rs 72 lakhs in cash were made. Hyderabad shared a case involving a seizure of Rs 95 lakhs in cash from five persons travelling in a Tata Indica.

Pune’s reference stems from a seizure of Rs 20 lakhs in cash, including Rs 10 lakhs in new currency notes from an un-allotted locker of an urban cooperative bank, the key of which was in the possession of the CEO of the bank.

Two cases referred by the Bhopal unit are of jewellers against whom evidence of large-scale pre-dating of bills and flouting of PAN reporting norms were detected during searches conducted.

The cases referred from the Delhi unit include that of Axis Bank, Kashmiri Gate, in which complicity of officers of the bank in the malpractices was detected.

The concerted and coordinated enforcement action of the I-T department, the ED and the CBI in detecting the malpractices and taking swift action is going to continue in the coming days, said the I-T department on Tuesday.

The Centre had offered a one-time chance to holders of untaxed incomes and assets to escape prosecution by coming clean and paying — in installments by September 30, 2017 — tax, penalty and cess totaling 45 per cent of the assets disclosed.