A Mumbai-based family of four declared an income — falling under the high-value and undisclosed category — of Rs. 2 lakh crore, according to a Finance Ministry statement on Sunday.
However, this case, along with the disclosure of Rs. 13,860 crore by an Ahmedabad resident, Mahesh Shah, were “rejected” and termed “false declarations” by the Income Tax authorities, and therefore are not part of the disclosures under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) announced in the Union Budget 2016-17, it added.
The statement said the two declarations were not included in the IDS, which had closed on September 30, 2016, as they “were found to be suspicious in nature being filed by persons of small means,” the Ministry said.
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The Department has since commenced enquiries against these declarants to determine the intention behind these false disclosures, it added.
Rs. 2 lakh crore or mere cipher?
The Finance Ministry has described as “false” the declaration of Rs. 2 lakh crore by a Mumbai-based family under the recent Income Declaration Scheme.
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A Ministry statement said: “A family of four declarants, namely Abdul Razzaque Mohammed Sayed (self), Mohammed Aarif Abdul Razzaque Sayed (son), Rukhsana Abdul Razzaque Sayed (wife) and Noorjahan Mohammed Sayed (sister), who were shown as residents of … Bandra (West), Mumbai, filed a total declaration of Rs. 2 lakh crore. Three of the four PANs were originally of Ajmer, which were shifted to Mumbai in September 2016, where the declarations were filed,” the Ministry said. “The other declaration was filed by one Mahesh Kumar Champaklal Shah, resident of … Ahmedabad for Rs. 13,860 crore.”
Under the scheme, declaration of undisclosed income or asset could be made by agreeing to pay 45 per cent of the declared amount as tax, surcharge and penalty.
On October 1, it was announced that declarations totalling Rs. 65,250 crore were received from 64,275 declarants, subject to reconciliation, the Ministry said. After final reconciliation, the revised figure of actual declarations “received and taken on record” was Rs. 67,382 crore, made by 71,726 declarants, it added.
Regarding the declarations from Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the Ministry said they were kept pending for investigation about the genuineness and were not included in the total value of declarations announced on October 1.
“After due enquiry, it was found that these declarants were persons of suspicious nature and very small means and the declarations could have been misused. Therefore, after due consideration, the Income Tax department decided on November 30 to reject them.”