Bengaluru: Around 1,300 non-PAN entries, which have deposited more than Rs 1 crore cash in banks in Karnataka are now being investigated by the Income Tax Department.
"These cash deposits have been made by individuals, who have either wilfully concealed their PAN or did not have one. The investigation wing of the Income Tax Department is probing these accounts," said Director, Criminal Investigation, Income Tax R. Ravindaran.
Laxity on the part of some banks to implement the Know Your Customer cannot be ruled out and we will also examine the role of banks, he added, while speaking on the sidelines of a press meet on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2016 in the City on Wednesday.
The role of 85 co-operative banks for alleged non-compliance under Section 285 BA of I-T Act is also being probed. “These 85 banks have not disclosed deposits above Rs 10 lakh to the Department and we have imposed penalty of Rs 500 per day since its issuance on them under Section 271 FA of the I-T Act, Ravindaran added.
There are 280 co-operative banks in the State. Earlier, the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Karnataka & Goa Nutan Wodeyar, explained about the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and asked people with undisclosed income to make use of this scheme to disclose their income in the form of cash or deposit before March 31, 2017.
“If the tax assessee avails of the scheme before December 30, he can make all the payments of tax as well as deposit in the scheme in the old demonitised currency. On the other hand the consequences of not declaring the undisclosed income under the scheme will be very expensive," she said.
"If an assessee is caught with undisclosed income in a tax raid, then apart from the tax, surcharge and cess, he will have to pay a penalty of minimum 30 per cent and maximum 60 per cent of the undisclosed income. This means, that the assesse will end up paying a minimum of 107.25 per cent and a maximum of 137.25 per cent of the undisclosed income," Wodeyar added.
Director General Income Tax (Investigation), Karnataka & Goa B.R. Balakrishnan said the Government has given enough opportunities to tax evaders to come clean on their undisclosed income and assets. "This is the last opportunity," he warned.
