The Hindu Business Line : Filing returns: Salaried class may be spared

THE Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, today hinted that the salaried class might not be required to file income-tax returns if there is no income from any other source.

"The proposal is under consideration. It will depend upon when the Tax Department is able to put in place the fully online tax information network (TIN)," Mr Chidambaram said at a news conference on Thursday.

He also said that the I-T Department will track those who plan to evade taxes by not filing returns. The last date for filing returns is October 31.

"Please pay your returns and have a happy Diwali. All help is being provided to those who want to file their returns to do so by October 31," Mr Chidambaram said.

He added that the I-T Department has data relating to 1,72,511 parties or individuals with transaction in cash deposits of Rs 10 lakh or more in the fiscal, and 3,23,563 credit card holders with expenditure of Rs 2 lakh or more a year.

The Department also has data pertaining to 4,96,600 entities with investment of Rs 2 lakh or more in mutual funds and transactions in immovable properties.

"The Department has more information than people think it has. It has a huge volume of information relating to transactions in the economy," Mr Chidambaram said.

He added that the last date for filing of annual information return was August 31, which was extended to November 30. He said that those who do not file the return by the due date would have to pay a penalty.

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