Income Tax Department Dispatches 22,000 Notification Letters for Discrepant ITRs Filed in 2023-24: Report

Per an investigative report, the entirety of these intimation notices has been dispatched in relation to tax returns filed for the fiscal year 2023-24, and the entire batch has been disseminated within the preceding fortnight.

• Subsequent to the discovery of variances exceeding Rs 50,000 between the tax deductions asserted within the returns and the tax department’s statistical records, approximately 12,000 of these notifications have been issued to salaried taxpayers.
• Following the discernment of inconsistencies surpassing Rs 50,000 between the claims of tax deductions within the returns and the corresponding data maintained by the tax department, around 12,000 of these notifications have been dispatched to individuals receiving salaries.
• SUMMARY
• This fiscal year, a grand total of 22,000 taxpayers find themselves the recipients of correspondences from the Income Tax Department, owing to the incongruities between their claimed deductions and the details encapsulated within their Form 16.
• Every single one of these intimation notices pertains to the tax returns submitted for the assessment year 2023-24, with all of them having been dispensed within the most recent 15-day span.
• In general, the department’s primary data analytics have unveiled irregularities and anomalies in the submissions made by around 200,000 taxpayers.
• Within this fiscal year, 22,000 taxpayers spanning high-net-worth individuals, salaried professionals, and trusts, have found themselves at the receiving end of correspondences from the Income Tax Department, in light of the disparities observed between their deductions and the information furnished within their Form 16 or Annual Information Statement (AIS).
• As per a disclosure within The Economic Times, each and every one of these intimation notices has been dispatched in relation to the tax returns filed for the assessment year 2023-24, with the entire lot having been disseminated within the most recent fortnight.
• After the identification of disparities exceeding Rs 50,000 between the deductions claimed in the returns and the statistical data maintained by the department, approximately 12,000 of these notifications have been dispatched to salaried taxpayers.
• The tax department has also extended notification to approximately 8,000 taxpayers who have filed returns under the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) category, wherein the disparity in income between the returns and the department’s records exceeded Rs 50 lakh.
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The Income Tax Department has also issued notifications to 900 high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), in cases where the disparity has exceeded Rs 5 crore, and to 1,200 trusts and partnership firms, where the disparity has gone beyond Rs 10 crore.

In a broader context, the tax department’s primary data analytics have unearthed discrepancies and irregularities in the submissions made by approximately 200,000 taxpayers, whose income declarations, expenditures, or banking account particulars do not align with the data gleaned by the department from transactions associated with their bank or UPI accounts.

“This notification represents the initial phase. Subsequently, should taxpayers not furnish responses or fail to provide adequate clarifications, a formal demand notice shall be initiated,” elucidated an official from the income-tax department in a statement to ET.

Taxpayers possess the option to discharge their outstanding tax liabilities by submitting an updated return, accompanied by the requisite interest, or by furnishing a comprehensive explanation thereof, as articulated by the aforementioned official. Furthermore, it has come to light that certain taxpayers have yet to incorporate capital gains and dividend income in their returns, with some entirely omitting data concerning additional bank accounts.

Another official has disclosed that a more exhaustive sector-specific data analysis is currently underway for corporate entities, trusts, partnership firms, and small-scale businesses, as reported by ET.

“The digitization of the economy has streamlined the tracking of any deliberate tax evasion, and moving forward, the improved synchronization of account aggregators will render evasion a more arduous endeavor,” affirmed the second official. He additionally highlighted ongoing efforts to augment the comprehensiveness and granularity of the AIS.