BHUBANESWAR: Over 1000 individuals and entities deposited a whopping Rs 861 crore in various banks in Odisha after the Narendra Modi Government imposed demonetisation in the country on November 8 last year. One single deposit was a massive Rs 32 crore alone.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department said as many as 1,092 entities were found to have made deposits of over Rs 50 lakh during the demonetisation period. The depositors include individuals, companies and cooperatives who had not declared the money in tax assessment in previous financial years, Principal Chief Income Tax Commissioner, Odisha, Shyama Prasad Choudhury told mediapersons here on Friday.
Choudhury said, those who deposited above Rs 50 lakh have been bracketeted under P (priority) 1 category and their, deposits, sources of income, IT returns and financial transactions are now being scrutinised.
Besides, another 3,080 individuals made deposits in the Rs 25 lakh-Rs 50 lakh and below Rs 25 lakh ranges which have been categorised as P2 and P3 resepectively.
More than 8,000 such deposits from the State were under the lens of Ministry of Finance and later slapped notices by I-T Department to reveal their sources of income. “Out of these, classified emails and SMSs to over 4000 entities went unresponded after which the Central IT team forwarded their details to us for
further investigation,” Choudhury said.
In a scenario, when a second phase of reminders have been issued to such bulk depositors, they can opt for a softer option - the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) - 2016 and pay 49.9 percent as tax which includes IT, surcharge and penalty.
Under the PMGKY, a person who has an undeclared income may deposit 49.9 percent as income tax. Of the rest, half will be with the tax payer, and the rest will be deposited with a bank authorised by the Reserve Bank of India in a Bond Ledger Account (BLA) which is an interest free fund.
The tax payer will be given back the amount in the BLA after a lock-in period of four years without any interest, said Choudhury.
If such bulk depositors opt for taxation instead of PMGKY, he/she will be taxed 77 percent of the amount.
In case the I-T Department is not convinced with the source of income, the payee has to shell out 77 per cent tax, 15 per cent surcharge, two percent cess and 10 percent penalty which totals to 87 per cent of the declared amount. Those who do not opt for the PMGKY or declare their deposits or cash reserves, and come under the scrutiny of the I-T Department will have to pay 107 per cent tax.