New Delhi: The income tax department has identified nearly 1.22 million possible evaders and will soon issue letters asking them whether they have paid taxes or not.
“Data analysis has identified target segment of 1,219,832 non-filers linked to more than 47 million information records. Rule-based algorithms have been used to identify high priority cases for follow-up and monitoring,” the finance ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The government has identified the possible tax evaders based on information collected by the Directorate of Systems of the Income Tax department.
In the first batch, letters are being sent to 35,170 PAN holders by the Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Investigation.
The letter contains the summary of the information of financial transaction(s) along with a customised response sheet and seeks to know whether the person had filed his Income Tax returns or not, the statement said.
“A nodal cell has been set up to capture the response and take follow-up action. There will be an online monitoring system to ensure follow-up action and track return filing and tax payment of the target segment,” it added.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has urged taxpayers to “disclose their true income and pay appropriate taxes.”
“There is need for a non-intrusive tax administration to enable the taxpayer to file his return and pay appropriate taxes,” Chidambaram said in a statement.
IANS
