Ludhiana, March 17: Before going abroad, the potential tax defaulters will have to convince the government that they have cleared their dues, said chief commissioner of income tax, Ludhiana, Binay Kumar Jha in a press conference here on Friday.
The move comes in the wake of financial scams including the PNB fraud, where the investigating agencies are trying to get hold of main accused Nirav Modi who escaped after the allegations of financial irregularities against him surfaced. Following ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach, the income tax (I-T) will collaborate with the immigration centres for the same.
“Under Section 231 (A) of the Income Tax Act, the department can issue a notice to the tax defaulter asking him not to leave the country,” said Jha.
“The same notice will be sent to the immigration centre and if the concerned person plans to fly out, he will have to convince the government of clearing his taxes,” said Jha. He said that the department does not want to harass any tax payer and the said notice will be issued if the previous notices remain unanswered.
Meanwhile, under the Centre’s ‘Operation Clean Money’, launched after demonetisation, the department has detected unaccounted cash deposits to the tune of over Rs 500 crore. “We have detected 4,100 cases of large cash deposits in several banks.
Out of these, the department has received responses for 1,283 cases while 2,811 entities have not responded,” said Jha.
Jha lauded Ludhiana residents for increased tax compliance reflecting the positive growth in the number of tax payers here. He also warned the defaulters to comply with the laws or face the music.
“Till April 01, 2017, the prosecution filed around 86 cases. However, the number has swelled to 700 in this financial year,” said Jha adding that increased prosecution cases only means that the department will have to bear extra work load.
The department has also attached 55 properties of the tax defaulters which is in the process of auction.
The I-T department to collaborate with the immigration centres
Source Hindustan Times
