No tax notices sent to Durga Puja committees in Kolkata this year: CBDT

CBDT added that ITD had been getting information that several contractors who were doing work for the Puja committees were not paying due taxes

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday said the Income Tax Department (ITD) has not recently sent any tax notice to Durga Puja committees in Kolkata.

Responding to media reports that ITD has sent notices to Durga Puja Committee Forum in the last few weeks, the CBDT said it is "unequivocally" stated that the said reports are factually incorrect and are strongly denied.

"It is a fact that no notice was issued to the Durga Puja Committee Forum by the I-T department during this year," it said.

However, it added that ITD had been getting information that several contractors who were doing work for the Puja committees were not paying due taxes, therefore notices were issued in December 2018 to about 30 committees.

The notices were issued to seek details of tax deducted at source on payments made to contractors and event managers engaged by the committees for the Puja events, including the TDS statement.

"This was part of an exercise carried out by the TDS wing of the department to ensure that the contractors and event managers pay their due taxes in time" it said.

Many of the committees complied and furnished evidence of tax deducted at source as well as deposit of the same into the government account, the CBDT added.

It also noted that several committees requested the department to organise educative sessions to explain the provisions of TDS to the committees.

Taking a cue from the same, one such outreach programme was organised on July 16, 2019 for the Durga Puja committees at their own request, the tax department said.

Nearly eight members of the Forum attended the outreach programme voluntarily and were educated about the provisions of TDS.