E-Campaign by IT department

Introduction:

Income Tax Department (IT Department) has recently launched E-Campaign to reach out to the taxpayer who has not filed their income tax return or who have not reported their income and investments accurately and also to facilitate the Taxpayers to validate their financial transactions.  This E-Campaign is especially for the Assessee in respect to return filed by them for Financial Year 2019-20 i.e., the Assessment Year 2020-21.

Modus Operandi of Income Tax Department:

Currently, the IT Department collects the information from various Authorised Sources like:

• Various Revenue Departments like GST, etc.
• Mutual Fund Houses from Demat Accounts, NSDL & CDSL Accounts.
• Banks, etc.
• Statement of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) or Tax Collected at Source (TCS)

The department will then reconcile the information obtained from the sources and information provided in the IT return.

Further, if there are any discrepancies in the return filed by the assessee, then the department will send a notice to the registered Email-Id or registered mobile number of the assessee.

Transaction Tracked so Far:

i) High-Value Transactions like Capital Gain Transaction from Stocks, Real Estate, Mutual Funds, etc.

ii) Non-reporting of FD Interest, Saving Account interest

iii) Non-disclosure of bank accounts.

iv) Non-disclosure of Foreign Assets.

v) Non-Reporting of High-Value Cash Deposits in the bank.

Example:

In case, If you haven’t disclosed your FD interest fully, then notice like below given be sent to the registered Email-ID or message in registered mobile number.

What Should a Taxpayer do on receiving such email/message?

Conclusion:

• Even though information on your income is not reflected in Form 26AS, you should not hide any of your income from the IT Department.
• Income such as agricultural income, which is exempt should be disclosed properly.
• All the information asked in ITR should be correctly and properly filled.
• IT department keeps on collecting your financial information from various sources. Hence, there is no escape way to hide your bank accounts or incomes from the IT department.
• On failing to fulfill disclose fair and true information in ITR, individuals may need to face huge penalties. Everyone should avoid these practices.
• If you are not capable enough to file ITR on your own, do hire any professionals like CA.