New Delhi
The Income Tax Department has recovered ₹37,000 crore in the last 20 months from people who were not filing returns despite having taxable income. Officials said that such people were identified after analyzing high-value transactions. This expenditure was made in cash. These people had spent heavily on the purchase of gems and jewelery, property and luxury holidays during 2019-20. A senior official told ET that these were cases where people were not filing tax returns despite making large purchases. The department had contacted him in the last 20 months.
The official said a broader and more stringent tax collection and deduction at source (TDS) regime has helped track high value transactions. These were transactions that had somehow escaped the notice of the tax authorities. There are also many such cases in which people spent heavily and despite having tax liability, filed returns declaring zero income. The official said that out of ₹37,000 crore, ₹1,320 crore was recovered from people carrying out high value transactions. The department is contacting those taxpayers who have irregularities in their expenditure patterns and IT returns.
How was the theft caught?
The Income Tax Department is using data and analytics to detect tax evasion and has deployed a non-filer monitoring system from FY 2021 to identify such individuals. The official said data received from multiple sources is being tapped and synchronized. This makes it easier for the department to identify tax evasion and catch such people. According to official data, direct tax collections increased by 15.4% to ₹12.10 lakh crore in April-November. This includes corporate tax of ₹5.10 lakh crore and non-corporate tax of ₹6.61 lakh crore.
