Blow the whistle, and get I-T Dept bounty

If you can smell tax evasion and benami deals, and smell it from a long distance, there’s a bounty awaiting you. Thus spake the country’s taxman.

Any ‘specific information’ on benami transactions or property in the country will be worth a reward of ₹1 crore from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The reward for like inputs on black money stashed abroad could fetch up to ₹5 crore.

The main objective of the ‘Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme’ is to obtain people’s participation in the Income-Tax Department's efforts to unearth black money and reduce tax evasion. Foreigners will also be eligible for such reward.

Identity protection

The identity of the persons giving the information will not be disclosed and strict confidentiality would be maintained, an official release said.

Also, the ‘Income Tax Informants Reward Scheme’ has been amended, under which a person can get reward up to ₹50 lakh for providing specific information about substantial evasion of tax on income or assets in India, which are actionable under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

The reward amount for information under the Foreign Black Money Act has been kept high at ₹5 crore to make it “attractive to potential sources” in foreign countries, the I-T department said.

“Under this Scheme, a person can get reward for giving specific information in prescribed manner about substantial tax evasion on income and assets abroad which are actionable under Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015,” it added.

In a statement, the tax department said that it was found in many cases that black money was invested in properties in the name of others, even though benefits were enjoyed by the investor concealing his beneficial ownership in his tax returns.

The government had earlier amended Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, by Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 to make the law stronger.

COMMENT NOW