I-T identifies 556,000 new people for high cash deposits during note ban

I-T Dept used information received under Statement of Financial Transactions to identify people

The Income Tax Department on Friday came out with the second list of 5.56 lakh account holders who will be asked to explain the high cash deposits, found inconsistent with their tax profiles, made during the note ban.

"The Income Tax Department has used information received under the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) to identify 5.56 lakh new persons in the second phase of 'Operation Clean Money'. These are persons whose tax profiles were found to be inconsistent with the cash deposits made by them during the demonetisation period," the department said here in a statement.

This is the second list from the Income Tax department. The earlier list had identified 17.92 lakh people, who were asked to explain the sources of large cash deposited by them.

These lists are a part of the department's 'Operation Clean Money', in which data analytics has been made use of to analyse the data received between November 9 and December 30, 2016.

The 5.56 lakh people identified are being informed through e-mail and SMS for submitting their explanation online, it said.

The PAN holder will be able to see the information in the e-filing window at the portal -- https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. "The PAN holder can view the information using the link 'Cash Transactions 2016' under 'Compliance' section of the portal."

From the earlier list, the income tax department has identified a total of 1.04 lakh persons, who did not disclose all bank accounts during e-verification.

Out of the 17.92 lakh people identified earlier for e-verification of large cash deposits, 9.72 lakh had submitted the online response.

The department said that the following information has been communicated to promote voluntary compliance:

*Details of cash deposited in bank accounts aggregating to Rs 2 lakh or more is required to be given in the Income Tax Return (ITR). This information will be matched with the information in possession of the income tax department.

*The taxpayer should ensure that ITR is compliant with amount deposited in bank accounts during the period of demonetisation and while computing income, the amounts so deposited are considered/ taken into account while paying taxes.

*Cash deposits made in the above period may thus be fully and truly disclosed in the ITR.

The Operation Clean Money has a portal -- https://www.cleanmoney.gov.in - which was launched on May 16.