Tax Evasion

Indian man gets 30-month prison term in US for customs duty evasion

An Indian man who ran jewellery companies in New York has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for evading customs duty for importing jewellery worth more than USD 13.5 million and for illegally processing over USD 10.3 million through an unlicensed money transmitting business, a US attorney said. Acting US Attorney Vikas Khanna said Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah (4O) of Mumbai and Jersey City, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before US District Judge Esther Salas to a two-count information, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and operating and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. In addition to the prison term, the judge ordered restitution in the amount of USD 742,500 for the wire fraud scheme and forfeiture of USD 11,126,982.33 for the wire fraud and unlicensed money transmitting schemes. Additionally, the court imposed a two-year term of supervised release. According to court documents, from around December 2019

GST officers must provide written grounds of arrest under new guideline

The grounds of arrest must be explained to the arrested person and also furnished to him in writing as an Annexure to the Arrest Memo

ED conducts raids in Bengal over Rs 1,000 cr 'cyber fraud' in Tamil Nadu

Sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) started conducting raids at eight locations across West Bengal on Thursday in connection with its probe into cyber frauds involving over Rs 1,000 crore in Tamil Nadu, a senior officer said. Raids are underway simultaneously at five places in Park Street, Salt Lake, and Baguihati areas in Kolkata and in three other locations in districts, he said. During the raid in Salt Lake area, the ED sleuths detained a person for questioning, the officer said. "Our officers are now conducting raids at a flat in a high-end residential complex in Baguihati," he told PTI. Several people based in states in eastern India have been found involved in the crime, he added.

I-T dept refutes claims of crackdown on tax evaders using Digi Yatra data

The Income Tax department on Monday said it is not looking at Digi Yatra data to crack down on tax evaders. The I-T department in a post on X refuted reports which stated that Digi Yatra data will be used to crack down on tax evaders. "In this connection it is clarified that as on date there is no such move by the @IncomeTaxIndia department," it said on X. Based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), Digi Yatra provides for contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various check points at airports. The data shared by a passenger for Digi Yatra is stored in an encrypted format. For availing the service, a passenger has to register his or her details on the Digi Yatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture. In the next step, the boarding pass has to be scanned and the credentials are shared with the airport. Digi Yatra is managed by the Digi Yatra Foundation. Its shareholders are Airport Authority of India (AAI), Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL),

Decoded: How Volkswagen Group 'evaded' paying $1.4 billion in tax in India

Volkswagen bypassed the 35 per cent duty imposed on Completely Knocked-Down (CKD) units by misclassifying components as individual parts, according to Indian tax authorities

Meticulous planning behind Kerala GST's massive gold jewellery raids

There was meticulous planning at the top level before conducting the massive raids on gold jewellery manufacturing units by Kerala GST officials in Thrissur district, aimed at uncovering unaccounted gold linked to tax evasion, official sources said on Friday. The two-day-long massive searches were carried out by around 700 officials from the state's GST department at gold jewellery manufacturing units across the central Kerala district, seizing 104 kg of unaccounted gold after extensive preparations and planning to ensure that there were no loose ends, they said. The operation was planned and implemented with the full support of state Finance Minister K N Balagopal, an official source told told PTI. Around 700 officers were summoned to gather at two locations on Wednesday (October 23) and then transported in tourist buses labelled as study tours to various sites in Thrissur. A senior GST official involved in the operation, named "Torrel del Oro," said, "We opted for tourist buses t

Putting a leash: Govt likely to disband unit tracking pre-GST evasion

DGGI expects to complete investigation in all such cases by March

DGGI suggests info-sharing with foreign governments, blocking websites

GST investigation arm DGGI has suggested reciprocal arrangements with foreign governments for information sharing and enforcement measures as well as blocking of websites to prevent tax evasion in OIDAR services like e-gaming, online education and advertisement. The move has been necessitated as it has come to DGGI's notice that there are entities, including online casinos that are based out of tax havens and also those which operate through offshore VPNs and cloud-based platforms. These entities are non-cooperative and appear to intentionally avoid tax compliance, and hence an information exchange with global law enforcement agencies would help crack down on any evasion. Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval (OIDAR) services are those which are delivered over the internet or electronic network and whose supply is essentially impossible without Information Technology. It includes a wide array of services viz cloud services, digital content, online gaming, online ...

Hunter Biden wants to change not guilty plea in federal tax evasion case

Hunter Biden wants to change his not guilty plea to avoid going to trial on federal tax evasion charges , his defence attorney said Thursday, appearing to surprise prosecutors and the judge just as jury selection was set to begin. Defence attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge that the evidence against Hunter Biden is overwhelming and that the president's son wants to resolve the case with a plea instead of going to trial for a second time just months after he was convicted of felony gun charges in a separate case. But prosecutors are objecting to the proposed Alford plea, under which a defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction. Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty, prosecutor Leo Wise said. He is not entitled to plead guilty on special terms that apply only to him. The Justice Department charged Hunter Biden with misdemeanour and felony charges over what prosecutors say was a four-year scheme to avoid

Power to arrest is proportional to its checks, balances: Delhi court to ED

A Delhi court has pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while granting bail to an accused in a money laundering case and said that the power to arrest must be directly proportional to its checks and balances coupled with unambiguous regulations. Granting bail to Mangelal Sunil Agarwal, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Dheeraj Mor noted that in a "very unpleasant situation", while the previous investigating officer had cited him as a witness, the next IO chose to arrest him based on the same evidence available on record. "The hallmark of investigation is its objectivity. Subjective interpretation of IO must be deprecated as it would make a supposed objective investigation dependent upon his uncontrolled whims and fancies, who has been conferred extreme power of arrest that leads to curtailing liberty of an individual," the judge said in the order passed on August 31. "In these circumstances, it is apparent that one of the lOs was/is wrong and either acted upon the considerations

GST intelligence detects tax evasion of Rs 1.2 trillion so far since 2020

This comes in the backdrop of a fresh special drive being undertaken by both Central and State authorities to identify and weed out fake registrations

Tax evasion alert: CBDT targets foreign remittances exceeding Rs 6 lakh

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has initiated a crackdown on high-value foreign remittances to curb tax evasion.

Infosys gets demand notice for GST evasion of over Rs 32,000 crore

The tax demand relates to services availed by the IT services conglomerate from its overseas branches for five years starting 2017

Restrictions on cash transaction: Know details before making any payment

The government's intention is to curb black money, promote digital transactions, and ensure tax compliance

Pak authorities to block sim cards of over half a million tax evaders

Authorities in Pakistan have decided to block the mobile phone SIM cards of over half a million tax defaulters as part of the drive to take action against tax evaders. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in an Income Tax General Order (ITGO) said the mobile SIMs of 506,671 individuals, who failed to file their tax returns for 2023, will stay blocked until restored by the FBR or the Commissioner Inland Revenue having authority over the person. It ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and all telecom providers to immediately implement the Income Tax General Order (ITGO) no 01 of 2024 to block their SIMs and file a compliance report by May 15, Dawn News reported. An official source said the FBR has identified 2.4 million potential taxpayers who did not exist on the tax rolls. Notices were subsequently issued to these individuals. The FBR has selected over 0.5 million individuals out of the 2.4 million for SIM blockade based on one criterion: they must have declared ...

Panama Papers: From Singapore to Switzerland, which are the top tax havens?

The Panama Papers trial, which concluded on Friday, has once again brought the topic of tax havens into focus. Here are things you need to know about them

SC notice to ED on bail plea of Senthil Balaji in money laundering case

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Enforcement Directorate on the bail plea of former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested last year in connection with a money laundering case. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice to the agency and directed it to file reply by April 29. The Madras High Court on February 28, while dismissing the bail petition, had said that if he is let out on bail in a case of this nature, it will send a wrong signal and that it will be against larger public interest. It had said the petitioner has suffered incarceration for more than eight months and therefore, it will be more appropriate to direct the special court to dispose of the case within a time frame. "Accordingly, there shall be a direction to the Principal Special Court, Chennai, to dispose of the case within a period of three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order," it had ordered. The high court ordered that the trial shall b

FM Sitharaman to inaugurate conference of GST enforcement chiefs on Monday

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate on Monday a conference of enforcement chiefs of all state and central GST officers to tackle tax evasion. In the conference, Goods and Services Tax (GST) formations will deliberate on combating GST evasion, including examining current challenges and delving into successful methods adopted by central and state tax enforcement officers. It would also strategise on effective methods to combat fake invoicing, sharing best practices, fostering synergy, and leveraging technology and data. The conference will also balance ease of doing business and discuss striking a crucial equilibrium between facilitating a smooth business environment and implementing effective and deterrent enforcement measures. Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate the one-day conference and also deliver the keynote address on March 4, a finance ministry statement said. Embracing the spirit of cooperative federalism as .

Alkem Labs sinks 14% to 3-month low on reports of tax evasion of Rs 1000 cr

Alkem Labs sinks on reports of tax evasion: The stock sank to an intra-day low of Rs 4,653 as of 1:15 pm on BSE, its lowest since December 5 when it closed at Rs 4,652

DGGI summons officials of foreign airlines over tax evasion: Report

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) was seeking clarification over payment of crew salaries and staff expenses at the offices of the international airlines, the report said