Hyderabad: Man gets jail for not filing returns

Hyderabad: In order to detect tax evaders more efficiently, the Income Tax department has recently implemented the non-filers monitoring system (NMS) as a pilot project to prioritise action on non-filers with potential tax liabilities. Section 276CC of the I-T Act provides for prosecution, punishable with rigorous imprisonment of three months to seven years and a fine for tax evaders. The Office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, AP & TS, Hyderabad, issued an official press release detailing the prosecution of a city-based person for failing to file his I-T returns for assessment year 2013-14.

The release signed by Income Tax officer (public relations & finance) B.V. Vinod said, “A person from Raja Nagar colony, Malkajgiri, Hyderabad, has been convicted by the Hon’ble special judge for Economic Offences Court on January 19, 2018 in CC. No.170 of 2016 and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months with fine for not filing his income tax return for the AY 2013-14.”

The name and other details of the convicted person were not disclosed because official sources said they were not allowed to do so but that the case pertains to a trader who defaulted on payment of not only income tax but also failed to file the I-T return for 2013-14 despite repeated notices for an amount of less than Rs 25 lakh. Under Section 271F, if a person who is required to furnish a return of his income, as required under sub-section (1) of section 139, fails to furnish such return before the end of the relevant assessment year, he shall be liable to pay, by way of penalty, Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.

If the tax evaded exceeds Rs 25 lakh, the defaulter can be sentenced to minimum imprisonment of six months and maximum of seven years, besides being asked to pay a fine. If the tax evasion amount is less than Rs 25 lakh, imprisonment can range from three months to two years in addition to a fine.