With reports of duplicate, fake, multiple PAN cards in use, the Income Tax Department is deploying a technology solution to have a ‘deep dive’ analysis of the database.

There is a huge mismatch between the number of PAN card holders and the number of people filing I-T returns in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“There are over one crore PAN card holders in the two States,” SP Choudhury, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), said. But the number of tax payers is only 36 lakh, indicating a possibility that scores of people are not filing the returns.

The department is in the process of checking whether there are any fake, duplicate cards. “We are also checking the database for similar sounding names,” he said.

Caution to corporates

Choudhury said collecting of tax from employees and then not remitting it to the department is punishable. “Seven arrest warrants were issued. There were three convictions,” he said.

He said 83 properties were attached under the newly introduced Benami Property Transactions Act. Notices were issued in 108 cases till the end of June 2018 under the Black Money Act, 2015.

The undisclosed income admitted by the taxpayers in ‘searches’ in 2017-2018 was at ₹1,167 crore. It is ₹285.70 crore this year so far.

Last year, the department conducted 415 surveys, which detected unaccounted income of ₹589.41crore.