The Income Tax Department has detected undisclosed income of over ₹500 crore from searches conducted in the premises of a Chennai-based bullion and gold jewellery dealer.
According to an official statement, the department had conducted searches on November 10. The search operation was carried out at 32 premises located in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli, it added. However, the department did not disclose the name of the group.
According to the statement, evidence unearthed included unaccounted for stock maintained by the assessee at various places. Around 814 kg of excess stock valued at around ₹400 crore was identified and would be brought to tax.
Since this was business stock, the same could not be seized as the Income-Tax Act, 1961 restrains seizure of business stock, it added.
The data from the system maintained by the group shows a net income of ₹102 crore outside books for the financial year 2018-19 alone. The data for financial years 2019-20, 2020-2021 available in the system is being culled out using forensic tools. Similarly, the excess stock of 50 kg found in the business premises of related concerns was not seized, but identified for quantification of unaccounted income, the statement said.
The group has been maintaining a custom-made package called Jpac to cleverly conceal the true facts of the business, the department alleged.
The goods were transported by raising bills/invoices as rough estimations, which would be destroyed on delivery of goods. The data so obtained will be used to unearth the unaccounted for transactions of other parties based on the data extracted. Forensic experts using specialised tools are culling out more data to reach a final quantification of unaccounted for income, it added.
In fact, the assessee has made a voluntary disclosure of ₹150 crore out of the undisclosed income detected so far. Investigation into the non-business investments of the group and use of accommodation entries to reduce profits is also in progress, the statement added.