Beware, The I-T Men Are Watching You!

Through several changes, the government is trying to expand its tax base, nabbing evaders at the same time. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently said that people of the country need to change their mindset about taxation and pay taxes honestly. The country is being unlawfully deprived of crores of rupees because of tax evasion, the FM said. That certainly set the tone for the income tax (I-T) department to go after those trying to evade taxes using unlawful practices.

Here are certain recent moves by the department that you should take note of:

14,000 properties under I-T lens

The department launched “Operation Clean Money” in January this year. As the operation progressed, the department has now identified 14,000 property-related transactions where owners did not file income tax. "The exercise has also unearthed large number of persons and clusters having suspect transactions. These include about 14,000 properties of more than Rs 1 crore each where persons have not even filed Income Tax Returns. The investigations are in progress," a department said in a statement.

Earning farm income? They are watching you through satellite

In case a farmer decides to sell his land, he can claim tax exemption of sale proceeds. However, to claim the exemption, this farmer will have to prove that the land had been used for farming purposes for in the previous two years. However, this provision is often misused by rich landowners, who earn big gains through selling land parcels without actually being involved in agriculture. In light of that fact, the government last year undertook the task of verifying taxpayers who reported agriculture income of over Rs 1 crore in the past nine years to March 2016. According to a media report, the I-T department has now shortlisted 50 people who have suspiciously earned over Rs 50 lakh each from agriculture. Now, in case the reported farm income of a person is not genuine, he has no way of getting away. The department has been using the services of the Indian Space Research organization (ISRO) to check the veracity of such deals. In a recent case, the I-T men used satellite imagery provided by the ISRO to find out that a land parcel sold as farm land was in fact barren.

Dealing in cash? You may invite penalty

You may have seen this message, but this is the time to pay more attention to the import. Sending a public message recently, the I-T department ruled that "accepting Rs 2 lakh or more in aggregate from a single person in a day for one or more transactions relating to one event or occasion is prohibited". Similarly, receiving or repaying Rs 20,000 or more in cash for transfer of immovable property and paying more than Rs 10,000 in cash relating to expenditure of business or profession is also banned, the message went on.  Going cashless would be the best policy because “cash payment (are) prohibited” and “contravention may result in levy of penalty”.  A new Section, 269ST, has been inserted in the Income Tax Act to ban cash dealings. Contravention of the Section would invite levy of 100 per cent penalty on receiver of the amount. The department has also asked the public help it in nabbing those dealing in cash.

They may “dislike” your posts

We hardly ever fail to update our social media friends about every single detail in our daily life while failing to report vital details to the department. Now, the department has launched a project, Project Insight, under which it will be analysing big data to dig out mismatches in your reported and actual income. Be careful about what you post on Facebook and Instagram in case you have not been telling the department the truth.

Finding it hard to file taxes? Help is on your way

As the tax base increases, the department will also make sure the task of filing taxes becomes hassle-free. According to recent reports, every city in India will soon have an expert that would help small tax payers file their taxes. The department is planning to recruit 7,600 experts who will be providing people assistance on mobile.  Official data say the number of such expert currently stands at 5,400.

“It is proposed to provide a sufficient number of Tax Return Preparers (TRPs) in every district by scaling up of number of TRPs from a total 5,400 to 13,000 in the country. It is proposed that every district in the country should have at least three TRPs,” the I-T department blueprint accessed by Press Trust of India read.