Tax authorities have identified 1 crore taxpayers who deposited into their bank accounts over ₹2 lakh in cash during the 52-day demonetisation period.

Verification queries will now be sent to 18 lakh taxpayers through emails from February 1, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sushil Chandra said.

“Money has lost its anonymity. The queries are being sent to those in whose case, cash transactions do not appear to be in line with the tax payer’s profile,” he said.

These would include tax payers who made cash deposits of over ₹5 lakh, or suspicious cash deposits between ₹3 lakh and ₹5 lakh between November 9 and December 30, 2016.

‘Swachh Dhan Abhiyan’ Calling it Operation Clean Money or ‘Swachh Dhan Abhiyan’, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the CBDT had come up with a new software for online verification of deposits and their assessment against the taxpayer profile.

“There have been concerns that inspectors will harass tax payers. With the software, there will be no physical contact with inspectors as 99 per cent of taxpayers file their returns online,” he said.

Taxpayers will be expected to respond within 10 days by logging on to the online return filing portal to avoid any notice from the Income-Tax Department.

“Data analytics will be used to select cases for verification, based on approved risk criteria. If the case is selected for verification, request for additional information and its response will also be communicated electronically,” said the CBDT, adding that response of taxpayer will be assessed against available information.

In case explanation of source of cash is found justified, the verification will be closed without any need to visit Income Tax Office. The verification will also be closed if the cash deposit is declared under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna.

Further action, including legal measures, may be taken in cases where the reply does not justify the source of cash.

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