Income Tax Department has warned taxpayers that making fake claims in ITR for the purpose of saving tax is not only illegal but also a punishable offence under the law and doing so may not only delay their refund or processing but taxpayers may also have to face fines and imprisonment.
Today is 31st July, and it is the last date to file Income Tax Return for all those people whose income is not audited. All the employed people come under its purview. About 6 crore ITRs have been filed before the last date, but in haste or hurry, some taxpayers are doing some dishonesty in the attempt to save tax, against which the Income Tax Department has also warned.
The Income Tax Department has warned the taxpayers that making fake claims in ITR for the purpose of saving tax is not only illegal, but is also a punishable offense by law, and due to doing so, not only their refund or processing may get delayed, but the taxpayers may also have to face fine and imprisonment.
Overstatement of expenditure
The Income Tax Department has specifically mentioned three types of frauds that are currently being committed by taxpayers filing ITR. The first of these is – overstatement of expenditure. The department says that some taxpayers overstate the amount actually spent on a particular item, so that a higher amount of tax exemption can be obtained. Many people are overstatement of the amount spent on medicines and treatment, and are submitting fake bills with themselves. According to the Income Tax Department, if this is exposed during investigation, the taxpayer may suffer a lot.
Getting deduction without spending
The second fraud is also similar. Many such taxpayers have been caught in the investigation, who have claimed to have spent anything on a particular item to get tax exemption without spending anything. Trying to claim deductions for money without actually spending it can definitely lead to scrutiny, and the scrutiny can also delay the taxpayer’s refund or processing of their ITR. Moreover, if the fraud is detected, the taxpayer may have to face serious consequences.
Hiding the actual income
Some taxpayers have been found trying to hide their actual income in ITR. These people have tried to hide the income from other sources apart from salary, so that they do not have to pay tax on that amount. But whenever this attempt is caught, they will not only have to pay the outstanding tax as well as a penalty, but may also have to go to jail.
So, now keep in mind, the Income Tax Department has clearly said that making fake claims is not only morally wrong, but is also a punishable offense by law, for which fine and imprisonment can be imposed. By the way, due to fake claims, processing of income tax returns also takes extra time, due to which there is also a delay in refund etc.
