Continuing its vigil against tax evaders who may have used the demonetisation period to their advantage, tax authorities plan to verify all cash deposits made during the 50-day window last year.

This is a key agenda of the action plan of the Central Board of Direct Taxes for 2017-18, which has already been working on Operation Clean Money.

By the end of this month, the CBDT will prepare a list of persons required to file Statement of Financial Transactions for cash deposits into their bank accounts between November 11 and December 30, 2016.

It will also identify persons who have not filed or have filed inaccurate statements on cash deposits.

“Further action will be taken in cases as and when required,” said sources.

An estimated 36.1 per cent of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) holders that made cash transactions during demonetisation had not filed income tax returns, according to official data.

Additionally, to prevent tax evasion, the CBDT also plans to monitor reporting of high value transactions based on the PAN.

“A large number of instances have been noticed where the deductors are making PAN errors in the deductee rows in the TDS statements by either mentioning ‘Invalid PANs’ or ‘PAN not available’ in the corresponding column,” it said, adding that officers should advise deductors to ensure that valid PAN is given by taxpayers in for high value transactions.

The government has been chasing black money hoarders and has taken a number of steps since the note ban.

Published on July 11, 2017