Over 5.27 lakh out of a total 18 lakh taxpayers, who have been sent digital queries by the income tax department over large cash deposits made in scrapped high-value currency notes, have responded to the income tax department with explanations about such deposits. These responses were filed on an online portal within a fortnight of its launch.
“The explanation of cash deposit submitted by the taxpayer is being analysed in the context of nature of business and business profile in the earlier returns of the taxpayer,” the Finance Ministry said on Monday. This e-verification exercise was conducted for large cash deposits made between November 8, 2016 and December 30, 2016.
Under the ‘Operation Clean Money’ launched at the end of January, the IT department has sent queries to 18 lakh taxpayers via e-mails and SMS. The last date for submitting responses has now been extended up to 15th February, 2017 to allow taxpayers to avoid enforcement actions under the Income Tax Act and other applicable laws.
“The operation has seen an overwhelming response and till 12th February, 2017 more than 5.27 lakh taxpayers have already submitted their response. Out of the 7.41 lakh accounts confirmed by the 5.27 lakh taxpayers, the cash deposit amount has been confirmed in more than 99.5 per cent accounts,” the statement said.
Further, these taxpayers have increased the cash deposit amount in nearly 90,000 accounts and provided details of additional 25,000 bank accounts in which cash was deposited, according to the income tax department.
Around 4.84 lakh taxpayers have not yet registered with the e-filing portal and fresh messages have been sent on their mobile numbers even as the department is keeping a vigil on PAN card holders who have still not registered on the e-filing portal or who have not yet submitted their online response.
