10,000 property deals under I-T scanner

The tax dept is expected to launch Project Insight next month to make evasion even tougher

The income tax department has identified over 10,000 individuals who have bought properties but have not paid tax. 

Part of the second round of Operation Clean Money, the tax department is examining property transactions worth over Rs 1 crore. The department has roped in four global data mining companies to profile taxpayers and map their transactions.

“We have identified cases where people have bought property but have not paid taxes. These cases are across the country. More than 10,000 people have come under scrutiny,” said a tax official. 

The department is also investigating if these properties are benami holdings. The government has identified cases based on the income declared by individuals. 

“We are following a non-intrusive approach, relying solely on the data mined. Notices have been sent out. Many firms and companies have also been identified, taking the number of cases higher than 10,000,” the official added.

The probe will be widened to examine property transactions of less than Rs 1 crore. 

By next month, the tax department is expected to launch Project Insight in collaboration with L&T infotech, which will make evasion even tougher. It will collate information from various sources and profile people using their PAN details.

The government has identified 30,000 cases for scrutiny of people who tried to regularise unaccounted income by filing tax returns in response to demonetisation.

The tax department had conducted searches on 900 groups of people between November and March, resulting in seizure of Rs 900 crore and admission of undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore. Besides, 8,239 surveys were conducted, leading to the detection of undisclosed income of Rs 6,745 crore.

In 2017-18, the tax department has seized assets worth Rs 103 crore after conducting searches on 102 groups that admitted to undisclosed income of Rs 2,670 crore. The department has also conducted surveys in 202 cases, leading to detection of Rs 150 crore black money.

The income tax department has a steep collection target of Rs 9.8 lakh crore, up 15.7 per cent from the previous fiscal year. The tax rate on income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh has been lowered to five per cent from 10 per cent in 2017-18.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act prescribes imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine that may extend to 25 per cent of the fair market value of the benami property.

Under the lens
 

• The tax department is examining property transactions worth over Rs 1 crore

• The department has roped in four global data mining companies to profile taxpayers and map their transactions

I-T raids
 

• The department had conducted searches on 900 groups of people between November and March

• Seized Rs 900 crore and admission of undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore

• 8,239 surveys were conducted leading to detection of undisclosed incomes of Rs 6,745 crore

• The department has seized assets worth Rs 103 crore

• Detected undisclosed incomes of Rs 2,670 crore

• Surveys in 202 cases led to a detection of Rs 150 crore black money