On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to make the tax system painless, faceless and seamless, the Taxman triggered suspense proposing a series of measures to widen the tax base.

On Thursday evening, much after Modi’s announcements, the Government’s Citizen Engagement Platform, myGov, tweeted a slide that listed 11 Specified Financial Transaction (SFT) to be reported by payment receiver or supplier of goods and services to the Income Tax Department.

But very soon this slide was removed from social media and neither the Finance Ministry officials nor I-T Department officials would comment on it, leaving everyone confused

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“It is just a proposal and should be viewed only as such,” was all that a senior CBDT official would tell BusinessLine .

The SFTs included annual payment of educational fee/donations above ₹1 lakh; electricity consumption above ₹1 lakh; domestic business class air travel, foreign travel, payment to hotels above ₹20,000; purchase of jewellery, white goods, paintings, marble above ₹1 lakh; deposits/credits in current account above ₹50 lakh, deposit/credits in non-current account above ₹25 lakh; payment of property tax above ₹20,000 per annum; life insurance premium above ₹ 50,000, health insurance premium above ₹20,000; and Share Transactions/D-Mat Accounts/Bank Lockers.

‘Compulsory filing’

Apart from these, another proposal was inclusion of three financial actions for compulsory filing of I-T returns. These include persons having bank transactions above ₹30 lakh, all professionals, businesses having turnover above ₹50 lakh, and rental income of more than ₹40,000 (presumably per month).

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