April 18
On Wednesday, Income Tax (I-T) Department cautioned the salaried class taxpayers against using the illegal means like under-reporting of income or "inflating" deductions while filing their returns.
The IT Dept. stated that violators will be prosecuted and their employers will be intimated to take action against them.
Central Processing Centre (CPC) of Department in Bengaluru, that receives and processes the Income Tax Returns (ITRs), has issued an advisory specifying such taxpayers should not "fall prey" to unscrupulous tax advisors or planners who help them in preparing wrong claims to get tax benefits.
CPC of IT Dept. called it a "cautionary advisory" on reports of the tax evasion by under-reporting of income or inflating deductions or exemptions by salaried taxpayers, the department said such attempts "aided and abetted by unscrupulous intermediaries have been noted with concern".
It further added that,"Such offences are punishable under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act".
Tax filing season for salaried class taxpayers has just begun with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the department, recently notifying the new ITRs.
The one-page advisory added that if the department notices any fraudulent claims in their ITRs, such claims "may be punishable under provisions of the IT Act and this may also delay issuance of their refunds."
"Taxpayers, are, therefore strictly advised not to fall prey to false promises or mis-advice by unscrupulous intermediaries and submit wrong claims in their ITRs, which would be treated as cases of tax evasion.
"In the cases of such wrong claims by the government/PSU employees, reference would be made to the concerned vigilance division for action under conduct rules," it added.
Advisory stated that Department possesses an "extensive risk analysis system" that is aimed at identifying persons who are non-compliant and aim to subvert the trust based-system "envisioned" while processing of ITRs at the CPC, which it said is automated and devoid of any human interface.
Source TOI
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