Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 3^rd November, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Income Tax Department conducts searches in Karnataka

The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on one of the leading groups of Karnataka, engaged in the civil construction of roads and irrigation projects, on 28.10.2021 at various premises located in North Karnataka.

The search operation has revealed that this group has been suppressing its profits by booking bogus expenses in purchase of materials, labour expenses and payment to subcontractors.

Various incriminating documents including digital evidences indicating non-genuine claim of such expenses have been found and seized. Analysis of the same shows that unaccounted cash has been received by the key group person from such vendors/ suppliers of materials. It was also found that their own relatives/friends/employees were used as conduits in the name of subcontractors who neither executed any work nor did they have the capability/capacity to execute the work. The assessee group has been generating unaccounted cash from these transactions.

The search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of more than Rs. 70 crore which has been admitted as undisclosed income by the assessee group.

Further investigations are in progress.

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(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 1st November, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Roll out of the new Annual Information Statement (AIS)

Income Tax Department has rolled out the new Annual Information Statement (AIS) on the Compliance Portal which provides a comprehensive view of information to a taxpayer with a facility to capture online feedback. The new AIS can be accessed by clicking on the link “Annual Information Statement (AIS)” under the “Services” tab on the new Income tax e-filing portal (https://www.incometax.gov.in) The display of Form 26AS on TRACES portal will also continue in parallel till the new AIS is validated and completely operational.

The new AIS includes additional information relating to interest, dividend, securities transactions, mutual fund transactions, foreign remittance information etc. The reported information has been processed to remove duplicate information. Taxpayer will be able to download AIS information in PDF, JSON, CSV formats.

If the taxpayer feels that the information is incorrect, relates to other person/year, duplicate etc., a facility has been provided to submit online feedback. Feedback can also be furnished by submitting multiple information in bulk. An AIS Utility has also been provided for taxpayers to view AIS and upload feedback in offline manner. The reported value and value after feedback will be shown separately in the AIS. In case the information is modified/denied, the information source may be contacted for confirmation.

A simplified Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) has also been generated for each taxpayer which shows aggregated value for the taxpayer for ease of filing return.  TIS shows the processed value (i.e. the value generated after deduplication of information based on pre-defined rules) and derived value (i.e. the value derived after considering the taxpayer feedback and processed value). If the taxpayer submits feedback on AIS, the derived information in TIS will be automatically updated in real time. The derived information in TIS will be used for pre-filling of Return (pre-filling will be enabled in a phased manner).

Taxpayers should remember that Annual Information Statement (AIS) includes information presently available with the Income Tax Department. There may be other transactions relating to the taxpayer which are not presently displayed in Annual Information Statement (AIS). Taxpayers should check all related information and report complete and accurate information in the Income Tax Return.

The taxpayers are requested to view the information shown in Annual Information Statement (AIS) and provide feedback if the information needs modification. The value shown in Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS) may be considered while filing the ITR. In case the ITR has already been filed and some information has not been included in the ITR, the return may be revised to reflect the correct information.

In case there is a variation between the TDS/TCS information or the details of tax paid as displayed in Form 26AS on TRACES portal and the TDS/TCS information or the information relating to tax payment as displayed in AIS on Compliance Portal, the taxpayer may rely on the information displayed on TRACES portal for the purpose of filing of ITR and for other tax compliance purposes.

Taxpayers may refer to the AIS documents (AIS Handbook, Presentation, User Guide and FAQs) provided in "Resources" section or connect with the helpdesk for any queries through “Help” section on the AIS Homepage.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 1st November, 2021         

PRESS RELEASE

Income Tax Department conducts searches in Bihar and Jharkhand

The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operation on a prominent road construction contractor in Bihar and Jharkhand. The search action was initiated on 27.10.2021 at various premises located in Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.

The searches revealed that the group has been suppressing its profits by inflating expenses on purchase of materials. Such excess material is sold in the market in cash but cash so generated remains unaccounted. 

It has been also found that the group has indulged in obtaining accommodation entries for inflating other business expenses. Incriminating documents such as handwritten diaries have been seized from the premises of commission agents who have been assisting the assessee group in these dubious practices. These seized documents carry evidences of unaccounted cash generation and movement of material. The search operation has further revealed that the group is also suppressing contractual receipts and service income. It was further seen that the group is not maintaining proper books of accounts, including supporting documents like bills and vouchers.

 Various incriminating documents recovered and seized during the search indicate the movement of unaccounted cash between different locations for its investment in immovable properties at various locations and cash expenses of personal nature. It has been detected during the search operation that the commission agents and suppliers of bogus bills have also evaded tax on crores of income as they have indulged in providing accommodation entries to other parties as well. 

The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs 5.71 crore. Ten bank lockers have been placed under restraint. Investment made in fixed deposits, etc. of about Rs. 60 crore is under verification. The search action has led to the detection of unaccounted income to the tune of about Rs. 100 crore. 

Further investigations are in progress.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 26th October, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Income Tax Department conducts searches in Punjab

The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations in the cases of two groups based in Punjab.

The search action in case of the first group was initiated on 21.10.2021. This group is engaged in Cycle business. The group has been found to be involved in suppression of income by showing bogus intra-group transactions within group concerns. The group was also found to have been involved in receiving a substantial part of sale consideration in cash and thereby suppressing the turnover. The seized documents reveal suppression of turnover of around Rs. 90 crore per annum by a group concern. Incriminating documents related to the undisclosed sale of scrap have also been seized.

The search also revealed undisclosed investments by the group members in immovable properties.

The search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of about Rs. 150 crore. The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 2.25 crore and seizure of unaccounted gold of Rs. 2 crore in this group.

The second group, based in Jalandhar, is engaged in providing immigration & study visa related services to students. The search action in this group was initiated on 18.10.2021.

The search action has revealed that the group used to charge a package, ranging between Rs.10 lakh to Rs.15 lakh per student, depending on the country where the student wished to pursue education. Almost the entire receipts of the group, aggregating to more than Rs. 200 crore in the last 5 years are in cash. It has also been found that the bank accounts of the employees have been used to receive money, which has subsequently been withdrawn in cash. The profit earned from such receipts has never been disclosed in the Income Tax Returns filed. Only the commission received from foreign universities has been shown as receipts in the Income Tax Returns by the members of the group.

The search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of about Rs. 40 crore. The search action has also resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 20 lakh and seizure of unaccounted jewellery of Rs. 33 lakh.

Further investigations are in progress in both the groups.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

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