Journalism of Courage
As the government tries to meet its tax collection target, over five lakh taxpayers are under the income tax scanner for not filing returns for the assessment year 2014-15.
The move comes after the joint director of income tax (systems) has compiled a list of 5,09,898 taxpayers based on their electronic returns in previous years.
“It has been noticed that 5,09,898 taxpayers who have submitted an e-Return of AY of 2011-12 or 2012-13 or 2013-14 (up to October 20, 2014) with returned income of more than Rs 10 lakh or paid self assessment tax of more than/ equal to Rs 1 lakh have not filed their ITR for the AY 2014-15,” said an internal missive from the directorate of I-T (systems) to field offices.
Accordingly, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has now directed all chief commissioners to personally monitor these cases. “A list of these taxpayers has been prepared and circulated. We will be looking into each of these cases and sending letters and income tax notices as and when required,” said an official, adding that this will not only ensure compliance but also help boost tax collections.
Net direct tax collections grew a mere 7.09 per cent to Rs 2,68,836 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal as against an ambitious target of over Rs 7,36,221 crore for 2014-15, which is 15 per cent higher than the last fiscal’s revised estimates. Over the last two years, the income tax department has identified over 25 lakh PAN holders who have not filed returns despite specific data in Annual Information Returns.
In February this year, the department also sent letters to 50,000 such cases.
