Income Tax: If you are also a taxpayer then this news is for you. Actually, according to a recent report, let us tell you that now these taxpayers will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,00000. There is also a provision for annual meeting…
The government and the Income Tax Department have taken many measures to curb tax evasion and black money. These include action in cases of tax evasion to investigation of sources of income of suspected taxpayers. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has also warned salaried taxpayers not to file wrong Income Tax Returns (ITR) by under-reporting income and exaggerating tax exemption claims.
If they do so, the Income Tax Department will not only impose fine on them but will also take legal action under the Income Tax Act. There are different provisions for punishment under this Act. The punishment or fine depends on the nature of the irregularity and if there is tax evasion then there is a different punishment for it. Let us look at the provisions of the IT Rules:
False claim in return will be considered as theft –
According to the Income Tax Department, if a salaried employee makes a wrong claim in the return on the wrong advice of a CA or tax consultant, then it will be considered as tax evasion. In this case, not only will action be taken against him but the CA or tax consultant will also be implicated. Also, the department will conduct a thorough investigation of tax evasion at its level. The department has a large automated system for checking this, which is used in the processing of ITR. No employee or officer can manipulate it.
Vigilance department will investigate tax evasion-
Information about false claims by employees of government departments or public undertakings will be given to the concerned Vigilance Department. He will take action as per rules and provide this information to the department. In this case, fine will be imposed under section 270A. This provision has recently been added to the IT Act.
If irregularities are proved, a penalty of 50% of the tax on income will be imposed. However, if wrong income is declared by submitting wrong documents then this penalty will increase to 200%. In this, action will be taken under section 276C. In such cases, there is a provision of punishment ranging from six months to 7 years. The fine can be up to Rs 25 lakh.
Punishment if income from unknown sources is found –
The department says that it is not enough to just declare the income but it is also necessary to give information about the source of income. Under Section 271AAC of the Income Tax Act, the Income Tax Officer can impose a penalty at the rate of 10 percent in this case. There is also a provision for penalty for income cash credit, undisclosed investment, undisclosed money, misrepresenting the amount of investment and not giving correct information about expenses. If during the processing of the return it is found that the tax audit was not conducted, then penalty is also imposed. This is only for traders or companies.
Punishment for non-filing or delay in filing returns-
Penalty is also imposed if income tax return is not filed. There is a provision of fine up to Rs 5000 for this. If it is found that TDS return has not been filed within a year, then there is a provision of penalty ranging from Rs 10 thousand to Rs 1 lakh. If a person has not linked the PAN card to the income tax account, then this also falls under the category of crime. Even if the PAN details are incorrect, it is still a crime and a fine of up to Rs 10,000 can be imposed. In case of discrepancy in TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number), a fine of Rs 10,000 is imposed. If any of these mistakes is considered more serious and someone’s crime is proved, then along with the fine, he can also be jailed.
