LUDHIANA: Having defaulted on taxes, three people in
Punjab were prevented from travelling out of the country in the past fiscal.
This was possible after the office of chief commissioner of
income tax (Ludhiana charge)
Binay K Kha started sharing data of “big” income
tax defaulters with the
Bureau of Immigration. The decision behind this was to foil attempts by tax offenders from leaving the country.
According to the department, the three people had defaulted on tax payment worth several crores, so the department had issued a notice against them under section 230 (1A) of Income Tax Act. In one of the cases, an individual was even deboarded from a flight in Chandigarh, after his name was found on the watchlist of immigration authorities, and he was given a clearance to fly abroad only after he paid the pending tax.
Jha, who is also responsible for tax duties in
Jalandhar and Patiala, said they had observed that it was common practice among “big-time defaulters” to dispose of properties and flee abroad, using permanent immigration schemes and other means. “To prevent this from happening, we are now regularly issuing notices under section 230 (1A) against such defaulters. Under the provision, a person against whom such a notice has been issued cannot fly out of the country until he gets a clearance from the income tax department. The info is being shared regularly with immigration authorities,” he said.
A source in the department said all three tax defaulters were stopped in September 2017.
