NEW DELHI: Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Sushil Chandra said on Tuesday that filing of incorrect returns by chartered accountants would attract Rs 10,000 penalty.
“Under Section 271J... we have entrusted responsibility with chartered accountants, valuers and merchant bankers who files audit, valuation reports and other things... So, if they file any incorrect information in the returns, they are also liable for a token penalty of Rs 10,000,” he said. The whole system is based on “a lot of faith on CAs and assessees and they have to be more responsible.”
Despite having a low tax, non-compliance level is high, he said, adding that Indians named in various black money reports, including Panama Papers, are among the highest. He pointed to high level of tax evasion and tendency to export the black money to foreign shores in spite of having global practices and standards, which has to come down.
“The department has done its bit, now it’s time for the taxpayers to show their respect to the law of land,” he said in a post-Budget interaction with PHD Chamber. In the past few years, the tax department has detected Rs 80,000 crore sale consideration through penny stock mechanism, the CBDT chief said, adding that this was used for conversion of black money into white. However, “neither we have changed capital tax regime nor we have changed any law. So, whosoever was getting the benefit of long-term capital gains through ESOP, IPO and FPO is not going to change”.