Important announcement for Non-filers of Income tax Returns

In 2013, Income Tax Department issued letters to 12,19,832 non-filers who had done high value transactions.

In 2014, Income Tax Department has identified additional 22,09,464 non-filers who have done high value transactions. You may be one of them. Act Now!

Log on to e-filing portal at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

• If you are not registered with the e-filing portal, use the ‘Register Yourself’ link to register.
• You can view ‘Information Summary’ under the ‘Compliance’ module and submit whether it pertains to you or any other person you know.
• If you have already filed the return, you should submit the details under ‘Filing of Income Tax Return’. If not, you should pay your taxes and file the return.
• You can keep a print out of submitted response for record.

Going after the non-filers: Personal Income Tax mop-up surges

While the economic slowdown hit corporation tax collection this year, personal income tax helped the government get the much-needed revenue. The growth in the latter category was aided by the massive exercise in sending notices to persons who’d high-value transactions but did not file their I-T returns. 

Corporation tax collections rose only about 10 per cent this year. That from personal income tax is up by about 20 per cent, show the Revised Estimates (RE) in the interim Budget documents. In 2014-15, personal income tax receipts are projected to grow 27 per cent, against 14.5 per cent growth expected in corporate tax collection.

“For the past two-three years, personal income tax is showing a better growth. The drive against stop-filers and non-filers this year has helped further. It is being scaled up and that will help improve tax revenue,” a department official told Business Standard.

Last year, the finance ministry sent notices to 1.2 million Permanent Account Number (PAN) holders who’d not filed their returns. The exercise resulted in 536,220 people filing returns and paying self-assessment tax of Rs 1,018 crore and advance tax of Rs 898 crore. The department has now identified another 2.17 million potential non-filers. It has sent letters to 50,000 of these in the first batch and more will be sent during the year.

Another official said a reason corporate collections took a beating was battered manufacturing, which shrank the profit margins of India Inc. Personal income tax, on the other hand, mainly comprises salary income and as wages increased because of high inflation, so did the collections from this category.

According to the RE, corporate tax receipts will be Rs 393,667 crore this year, a shortfall of Rs 25,843 from the Budget Estimate (BE). Personal income tax receipts will fall short of the target by only Rs 5,948 crore, at Rs 241,691 crore. The gap will narrow further next year. The 2014-15 BE for corporate tax collection and personal income tax collection is Rs 451,005 crore and Rs 306,466 crore, respectively.

 “The only way fiscal consolidation can take place is revenue augmentation. That will happen with increase in personal income tax receipts, made possible with the IT network created by the department. The scope of leakage has been reduced,” said Devendra Pant, chief economist, India Ratings.

The 10 per cent surcharge on persons with annual income above Rs 1 crore also contributed this year. There were 42,800 people with such income and they contributed 20 per cent to the total personal income tax collections.
Source: Business Standard

Income Tax department uses data matching to identify 21.75 lakh tax non-filers

Continuing its drive to nab tax evaders, the income tax department has identified additional 21.75 lakh potential non-filers. The department has already written to 50,000 such entities, urging them to pay up.

The department has identified these cases through its data matching exercise and has made the same available on the e-filing portal of the department so that such PAN card holders can view the
information and respond accordingly.

“The information will be shown only to the specific PAN holder when the PAN holder logs into the e-filing portal. The PAN holder will be able to submit the response electronically and keep a print-out of the submitted response for record purposes,” an official statement said.

Early last year, in February, the I-T department had initiated a business intelligence project to identify PAN holders who had not filed I-T returns and about whom specific information was available in Annual Information Return (AIR), Central Information Branch (CIB) data and TDS returns. As a result, 12.19 lakh non-filers holding PAN were zeroed in.

Subsequently, the department sent them letters containing a summary of information of their financial transactions along with a customised response sheet with a view to know why the person has not filed the income tax return.

As a result, “5,36,220 returns have been received from the target segment. Self assessment tax of Rs 1,017.87 crore and advance tax of Rs 898.22 crore has also been paid by the target segment,” the statement said.

For taxpayers who have shifted to different locations, the department has sought help of field formations to catch hold of such evaders. The finance ministry said the exercise would continue till all potential non-filers are covered.
Source: Financial Express