7 lakh tax notices to be sent for non-PAN high-value transactions

I-T dept steps up measures to check tax evasion

New Delhi, Jul 21:  

To check evasion, the Income Tax Department has decided to act on certain high-value non-PAN transactions that were reported to it under the annual information returns.

Letters will be issued to the parties of 14 lakh non-PAN transactions — forming part of identified 7 lakh high risk clusters — that are being scrutinised by the department closely, said an official release.

“The Department will be issuing letters to the parties of these transactions requesting them to provide their PAN number against these transactions,” the release added. Under the annual information returns, various high-value transactions were being reported to the department. These include reporting of cash deposits of ₹10 lakh or more in a savings bank account, sale/purchase of immovable property valued at ₹30 lakh or or more, etc. Many of these transactions do not have PAN linked to them.

For the convenience of the parties to whom these letters are addressed, a new functionality on the e-filing portal has been developed wherein they can own up transactions and provide structured response electronically.

The parties can log in to their e-filing Web site and by quoting a Unique Transaction Sequence Number provided in the letter sent to them, can link their transaction with their PAN easily.

They will also be able to give a response to this letter electronically by choosing the option of either owning up the transaction or denying the transaction as their own. The responses received from such parties online will be examined by the department. It will initiate further necessary action in those cases where no replies are received.

The Income Tax Department has details of about 90 lakh such transactions for the period 2009-10 to 2016-17.

(This article was published on July 21, 2016