Income Tax Department Warns: Wrong Claims Would Be Treated As Cases Of Tax Evasion

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department on Wednesday cautioned salaried taxpayers not to under-report their income or inflate deductions and exemptions while filing tax returns, warning that wrong claims would be treated as cases of tax evasion. In a single-page advisory issued on Wednesday, the department said such attempts aided and abetted by unscrupulous intermediaries have "been noted with concern". Such offences are punishable under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act, it said.

"Taxpayers are, therefore, strictly advised not to fall prey to false promises or mis-advice by unscrupulous intermediaries and submit wrong claims in their Income Tax Returns (ITRs), which would be treated as cases of tax evasion. 

(Read: Key Changes In New ITR Forms For Assessment Year 2018-19)

"In the cases of such wrong claims by government or Public Sector Undertaking employees, reference would be made to the concerned vigilance division for action under conduct rules," the advisory said.

It added that the department may also prosecute the intermediaries and abettors and may refer such cases to other law enforcement agencies for appropriate action. 

(Read: Investing To Save Income Tax? Link It To Your Goals And Not Your Tax)

The processing of ITRs by Centralized Processing Centre-Bengaluru is done in an automated rule-based manner with no human interface with the taxpayer.

"The Income Tax Department has an extensive risk analysis system aimed at identifying persons who are non-compliant and aim to subvert the trust based system envisioned while processing of ITRs at CPC Bangalore. 

(Read: New Income Tax Return (ITR) Forms Introduced, Tax Slabs For FY 2017-18)

"In all such cases of high risk, the department may examine and verify the details submitted by taxpayers in their ITR, subsequent to processing of returns in CPC," the advisory said.

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