I-T Dept warns of penal action for non-payment of tax

Asking people to come clean on their tax liability, the Income Tax Department here today said it has collected details of property transactions for the six years between 2006 and 2012 from the Registration and Stamps Department of the Andhra Pradesh government.
The income tax department in a press note said that the difference between purchase and sale price of a property, referred as capital gain, is taxable but many people who have sold properties have not filed returns of income in spite of having taxable capital gains and that could invite penal action.
"It was noticed that many of the sellers have not filed returns of income in spite of having taxable capital gains on these transactions in immovable properties," it said.

Data regarding 60,000 immovable property transactions involving 1,77,630 sellers has been collected and the same is being verified with returns data available with the department, the release said.
The details collected by the income tax department include the name and address of the seller and buyer, date of registration, sale consideration, description of the property among others, it said.
"As per the provisions of the I-T Act, a penalty equivalent to tax is payable which may go up to three times if the capital gains on the land transactions are not correctly disclosed. Besides, non-payment of tax on such income would also invite prosecution under the provisions of the I-T Act", it has warned.

All the sellers should immediately file their returns showing the correct capital gains income before March 31 and pay taxes accordingly to avoid penal consequences, the release added.