IT department continues shaming defaulters, publishes 31 names

Following its first public notice for "naming and shaming" tax defaulters last month, the Income Tax department on Wednesday published a list of another 31 defaulters, who collectively owe more than Rs.1,500 crore in arrears.

The earlier list, published on the last day of the previous fiscal, had names of 18 entities who owe over Rs.500 crore in arrears to the exchequer.

Among the big defaulters of in the latest list are Hyderabad-based Totem Infrastructure (Rs.401.64 crore), Pune-based Patheja Bros Forging & Auto Parts Mfg Co(Rs.224.05 crore), Hyderabad-based Royal Fabrics (Rs.158.94 crore) and Mumbai-based Home Trade (Rs.72.18 crore).

Among cities, Hyderabad provides the most defaulters in this list with 13 names, followed by Ahmedabad at six.

The I-T department said the assessees are either "not traceable" or they have "inadequate assets for recovery".

In view of multiple cases of assessees not being traceable that has reduced chances of recovery, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has provided the PAN number and the last-known address of these defaulters so that the public could give information about their whereabouts.

Meanwhile, at a time when unaccounted wealth of Indians stashed away in foreign banks is under the scanner, the income tax department has shifted its attention from civil consequences to criminal consequences in serious cases of tax evasion.

"In its crusade against black money and with a view to having credible deterrence against generation of black money, the government has shifted its focus to successfully prosecuting the offenders in the shortest possible time," the finance ministry had said in a statement in February.

"During 2014-15 (up to December 2014), the income tax department had conducted searches in 414 groups and seized undisclosed assets of Rs.582 crore," the statement added.

Undisclosed income of Rs.6,769 crore has been admitted by the taxpayers during such searches.

Saying that the focus of investigation in the department had so far been on civil consequences, or revenue augmentation, the ministry said over 600 prosecution complaints have been filed in the current fiscal up to December 2014.