Income tax department warns salaried class against filing wrong returns

I-T department said violators will be prosecuted and their employers will be intimated to take action against them.

The income tax department on Wednesday cautioned salaried class taxpayers against using illegal means like under-reporting of income or “inflating” deductions while filing their returns, stating violators will be prosecuted and their employers will be intimated to take action against them.

The Central Processing Centre (CPC) of the department in Bengaluru, that receives and processes Income Tax Returns (ITRs), has issued an advisory specifying such taxpayers should not “fall prey” to unscrupulous tax advisors or planners who help them in preparing wrong claims to get tax benefits.

Calling it a “cautionary advisory” on reports of tax evasion by under-reporting of income or inflating deductions or exemptions by salaried taxpayers, the department said such attempts “aided and abetted by unscrupulous intermediaries have been noted with concern”.

“Such offences are punishable under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act,” it said.

The advisory comes in the backdrop of the investigation wing of the department, in January, unearthing a racket of fraudulent tax refunds by employees of bellwether information technology companies based in Bengaluru, in alleged connivance with a tax advisor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation recently registered a criminal case to probe this nexus.

The tax filing season for salaried class taxpayers has just begun with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames the policy for the department, recently notifying the new ITRs.

The one-page advisory added that if the department notices any fraudulent claims in their ITRs, such claims “may be punishable under provisions of the IT Act and this may also delay issuance of their refunds”.