According to the data from the I-T department, the number of searches increased from 4,428 in FY16 to 15,401 in FY19.
The income tax department has increased the number of surveys in the last five years, which led to the unearthing of a substantially-increased amount in previously undisclosed incomes, Mint has reported.
According to the data from the I-T department accessed by the publication, the number of searches increased from 4,428 in FY16 to 15,401 in FY19. With this, the amount of previously-undisclosed income detected or brought to taxation surged from Rs 9,699.85 crore in FY16 to Rs 16,125.58 crore in FY19.
In this fiscal year through March 31, 5,808 searches have been made so far, which led to the detection of Rs 12,793.6 crore in undisclosed incomes, the report suggested adding that the figures for the current year are tentative and will update later.
Widening the tax base through tougher enforcement action is a part of the present government’s agenda of plugging the fiscal gap caused by unaccounted income, said the report.
In this effort, the department gets help from the information of various transactions in the economy from multiple sources. It includes data captured by banks and other agencies after the demonetisation in November 2016, as well as information recorded at every stage of the economy’s value chain after the goods and services tax (GST) was introduced in 2017, said the report.
As per the available data, there was a surge in the number of surveys in FY17, the year of demonetisation, in line with the crackdown on black money from November 2016 to March 2017.
The efforts of I-T officials to collect taxes have often received sharp criticism from assesses. However, now the finance ministry tries to make sure that there is no “overreach” by officials in their efforts to meet revenue targets, the report added.Subscribe to Moneycontrol Pro's Annual plan for Rs 399/- for the first year. Use coupon PRO2020 (Available on Web & Android only).
