Hyderabad: Taxpayers who have more than Rs 2.5 lakh in cash need not spend sleepless nights worrying about how to deposit the amount in their bank accounts.
Although the Reserve Bank of India has said that cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh will come under the I-T scanner, regular taxpayers can deposit amounts up to Rs 5 lakh and even up to Rs 10 lakh without worries, say experts.
All they need to do is give proper explanations when and if the I-T department issues a notice. There will be no question of paying penalties.
Most of the salaried class keeps liquid money in the form of “pin savings” (cash saved by a mother or wife), for monthly medicine costs or hospitalisation needs in case of old parents, or savings kept aside for buying things.
Since this amount is saved over years from an individual’s taxed or accounted money, there is nothing to worry, says chartered accountant Mr Kamal Kumar Rathi.
“The money can be deposited without any worries. It is no big deal for an employee earning a good salary to have liquid money of over '2.5 lakh, which can be his savings from the past two to three years. All accounts are linked with the PAN and I-T sleuths will not have doubts if they look at his or her salary and savings even if it is above the set limit,” he said.
But problems will arise when a person earning Rs 15,000 deposits Rs 3 lakh and says the money is savings. I-T officials then will seek more clarifications, such as how many years has he been in the job, how much has he been withdrawing every month for family needs etc., Mr Rathi added.
Chartered accountant Mr A. Srinivas says authorities’ focus would be mostly on individuals and agencies having unaccounted for cash in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and not on the salaried class, who paid taxes. The upper-middle class, middle class and salaried class thus need not panic about the Rs 2.5 lakh ceiling at all, he said.
