Taxmen expect income declaration scheme picking up next month

Even though the Mumbai office of the Income Tax department received a tepid response to the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) so far, it is confident the scheme will pick up next month.
The optimism of the department stems from the huge number of enquiries it has received about the scheme so far.
The scheme, launched by the Government on June 1 to uncover black money, closes on September 30.
As per the IDS facility, one can pay tax under the scheme by cash in a bank and no enquiry will be made by any bank official.
"Actual number of declarations is not very much under the scheme in Mumbai, as of now. Still, enquiries are pouring in and we hope it picks up next month," Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, D S Saksena told PTI.

"The sixth and final set of FAQs came from the Government on IDS around a week back and hence, we are confident the scheme will pick up now," he added.

The department has information on a large number of taxpayers in the financial capital.
"Out of 42 lakh pieces of information about taxpayers that are available with us, we have filtered and picked up 2.1 lakh pieces.
"These filtered information is related to many transactions, including cash deposits beyond Rs 10 lakh without mention of PAN numbers. We have sent letters to 60,000 of them so far, asking them to explain those transactions within 10 days of receipt of the letter," Saksena said.

The scheme, however, is getting a good response in places like Thane and Pune as professionals like doctors, builders, advocates and even those working in SMEs are coming forward in these places to go for IDS, Saksena said.
"We are receiving good response in Thane and Pune, thanks to active approach of the department officials who are holding awareness campaigns regularly," a senior I-T official said.