Income Tax Notice: Important news for taxpayers. In fact, now the ITR of taxpayers who do not answer the questions of the Income Tax Department can be selected for complete investigation….. Instructions issued by CBDT.
On the instructions of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Income Tax Department had started a comprehensive campaign to stop cases like tax evasion, GST evasion, fake GST registration across the country from 16th of this month. CBDT has sent notices to taxpayers whose documents have been found suspicious during the campaign. At the same time, notices were also sent to individual taxpayers, but those who have not yet responded, their ITRs will be scrutinized.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked income tax officials to select Income Tax Returns (ITR) for thorough scrutiny of taxpayers who have not responded to queries despite notices. These guidelines are applicable for the current financial year i.e. 2023-24. The Income Tax Department will scrutinize tax returns to investigate cases of tax evasion, search and seizure where surveys were conducted and where income tax notices under sections 142(1) and 148 were sent.
The Income Tax Department will scrutinize the ITR in such cases
- In case of specific tax evasion.
- Where a notice has been issued under section 148.
- Where a notice has been issued under section 142(1).
- In case of search and seizure.
- In case of survey.
- In matters relating to registration/approval.
- In the case relating to recurring in the earlier assessment year.
Eye on groups reporting incorrect income data –
CBDT’s mandatory selection guidelines indicate that income tax officials are eyeing certain specific groups of taxpayers to ensure that they report their income correctly. The CBDT has ordered that the government has over the years expanded the areas where Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) or Tax Collection at Source (TCS) is now mandatory. Along with this data, information coming from GST and other agencies is being used to create the database.
