Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Monday, said that around one lakh notices have been sent by the Income Tax Department in relation to the cases of not declaring or underreporting income.
Without providing further details about the department’s move, she added that all these cases are of old returns filed 4-6 years earlier and the department is aiming to get done with the notices by March 31, 2024.
The department has sent one lakh tax notices keeping in mind that income is greater than what the taxpayers have filed, where there are reasons to assume income has been underreported, or where they have not submitted and there is information that they should have filed, said Sitharaman while addressing the gathering at the 164th Income Tax Day celebrations.
She continued that these notices are not sent unintentionally and it has been assured by the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that these separate sections will be cleared by March 2024.
It was also confirmed by the officials that the notices were sent in the last 14 months and in this, most of the receivers are having income of more than 50 lakh.
As per the income tax law, officers have the authority to reopen past assessments of up to six years.
Sitharaman further said that the scrutiny assessment of the 55,000 notices was carried out by the CBDT which had been sent pursuant to a Supreme Court judgment. The board today is not sitting over issued notices and people are not gaming the system, a precise approach is followed in the system, she added.
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Previously, taxpayers were required to preserve records for ten years, but now tax assessments cannot be opened after six years. Only in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years, tax officers can reopen the assessment.
Finance Minister said that technology is the solution to many problems and it has assisted in identifying and nabbing tax evasion cases. Moreover, it helps give taxpayers an apparent, objective, and friendly income tax system.
According to CBDT Chairman Nitin Gupta, 7% of the assessees who submitted income tax returns this year are new taxpayers and their number is going to increase further by July 31, as per the estimations.
Additionally, the income tax department is putting efforts to complete all the income tax returns (ITRs) by early next month, after which refunds will be issued.
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