IT asks jewellers to submit customers' details

The Income Tax (IT) department on Friday asked jewellers with an annual turnover of more than Rs 1 crore to submit details about their customers' cash transactions of above Rs 2 lakh in a fiscal, whether at one go or in tranches.

According to IT Act, quoting PAN has been made mandatory in purchase of jewellery exceeding Rs 2 lakh. "In case a person does not have PAN, he is required to fill up Form No .60 and enclose proof of his identity as well as address. Traders are then required to submit the details of these transactions to the IT department."

"The objective of the effort is to track the origin of black money generating in the system and also to reduce the volume of cash transactions over a period of time," said Department's Director of Income Tax, Intelligence and Criminal Investigation S.S. Rana.

The idea was also to keep a log on such transactions to find out whether the IT declaration made by a person was in accordance with his/her spending pattern or not, he said at the sidelines of an awareness meeting between members of Swarna Shipla Bachao Committee and department officials.

The jewellers need to give the details to the IT department twice a year, failing which they would be fined.

"We usually keep a record of purchasers' details. It is a stringent compliance to keep a track record of each and every customer's transaction and then furnish it to income tax department.

"Permanent customers who used to buy from a particular jewellery shop may buy from different retailers to keep himself out of this compliance, or in other way, they may not reveal their exact name while making several transactions in a fiscal," Committee's Working president Bablu Dey told IANS.

"It is expected to increase the malpractice," he said.

--IANS

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