False info by non-PAN holders can land them in jail

A false declaration by an individual not possessing PAN card for certain value of transactions can land him upto a seven-year jail term and a hefty fine as part of Income Tax regulations that will come into force from tomorrow.

As part of the directives issued by the government for implementation of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) regime from January 1, any person not having a PAN but undertaking a transaction which requires a mandatory quoting of it, will have to fill up 'Form No. 60'.

The one-page form seeks personal details of the person undertaking the transaction along with a valid proof of identity and address, like Aadhaar and Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) among others.

"There are people who may not have a PAN and still make a large transaction for which quoting of PAN is now essential. In such cases, such people have to fill Form 60 and making a false declaration of information in this will make them liable for punishment which could be a maximum of seven years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) with fine or a minimum of three months RI with fine under IT laws," a senior tax department official said.

The department is empowered to file a prosecution case against such people under section 277 of the IT Act (false statement in verification), the official said.

The said Act stipulates that in a case where tax sought to be evaded exceeds Rs 25 lakh (by way of false declaration in Form 60), the punishment is RI between 6 months-7 years with fine and in cases below this monetary limit, the punishment will be RI between 3 months-2 years with fine.

In order to achieve a two-pronged target of curbing the circulation of black money and widening tax base, the government has recently notified changes in the monetary limits that will require mandatory quoting of PAN.

PAN has been made compulsory from tomorrow for transactions like cash payment of hotel or foreign travel bill exceeding Rs 50,000, purchase of jewellery above Rs two lakhs in cash or card, purchase of immovable property of over Rs 10 lakh, term deposits exceeding Rs 50,000 or Rs 5 lakh in a year with banks, Post Offices and Non Banking Financial Companies among others.

Under the 'Form No. 60', an individual has to provide his personal details like name, address, date of birth, mobile number and mode of transaction like cash, cheque, card, draft or banker's cheque, online transfer or any other.

The form has an exclusive column to provide the Aadhaar number of the declarant and also includes space for mentioning the acknowledgement number which could have been received by them while applying for this 10-digit alphanumeric number.

The form also asks for the estimated total income of the person along with separate columns for their possible agricultural and non-agricultural income.

The latest notification issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in this regard states that PAN would be mandatory for cash payments of more than Rs 50,000 for cash cards or prepaid instruments as well as for purchasing shares of unlisted companies for Rs 1 lakh and above.

These measures are being implemented from January 1, 2016 as part of the taxman rolling out a non-adversarial tax enforcement and vigilance in the country.

20 types of transactions have been listed by the government which will be regulated under the new PAN regime from tomorrow.

PAN is a ten-digit alphanumeric number issued in the form of a laminated card by the IT department to any person, firm or entity.