The Income Tax department has identified around 3500 companies in Jharkhand and Bihar which have fiddled more than Rs 1000 crore through shell companies and action was being taken against them.
Talking to media persons at Income Tax (IT) office here, Principal Chief Commissioner KC Ghumaria also said that at least 10,000 people of the two states have deposited more than Rs 10 lakh in their bank accounts after demonetisation was announced in November 2016 and being served notices to clarify.
“All those people have been issued notices to clarify it or action will be taken against them. Some of them have even replied to it; survey or search will be conducted against those found doubtful, while action will be taken against those who have not replied to it so far,” said Ghumaria. Around 25 per cent have replied to the notices served to them which were still being studied, he added.
Theoretically, shell companies are companies without active business operations or significant assets. They can be set up by business people for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes. Illegitimate purposes for registering a shell company include hiding particulars of ownership from the law enforcement, laundering unaccounted money and avoiding tax.
The IT Principal Chief Commissioner also disclosed that several people have also been found involved in illegal trade of coal by misusing form 27 (C).
“They obtain coal from CCl or BCCl for their personal consumption at a lower price and sell it to private parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at a much higher rate which is illegal,’ said the Principal Chief Commissioner of Bihar and Jharkhand. Such people are under scanner and action will be taken against them also, he added.
Ghumaria further said that penalty of Rs 106 crore on CCl and Rs 20 crore from BCCl has also been collected for their negligence in studying form 27(C) properly before delivering coal to such persons. Iron and mineral ore companies are also involved in a similar offence, if they did not pay their taxes on time. Action will be taken against them also, he added.
“A list of more than 400 such people of both states was prepared having their agriculture income to be more than 5 lakh which was studied by our IT officials in depth and it was found that the information provided by them was completely false,” said Ghumaria. He said that action will be taken against them also after serving notice to them if they still they fail to pay taxes against it, he added.
Ghumaria also said most of the people who pay their income tax by self assessment were the major defaulters and were on the target of the IT department. He also appealed to the tax payers that since the last day of paying IT is March 31, they should not wait for the last date and pay their taxes before time.
“As the IT department has decided not to spare anybody who are habitual offenders and have filed prosecution against 115 such people this year against only 2 last year. 39 prosecutions have been filed in Jharkhand,” said Ghumaria. He, however, said that there has been increase in individual IT collection in the two states from Rs 184 core last year to 300 crore this year (62.91 per cent) while collection from corporate and company tax has decreased from Rs 815 crore last year to 108 crore this year.