The Income Tax Department on Wednesday cautioned salaried taxpayers against falling prey to incorrect advice by tax planners who urge them to use illegal means to try to minimise their declared taxable income.
The Central Processing Centre of the I-T Department issued this “cautionary advisory” following reports of tax evasion by salaried taxpayers who either under-reported their incomes or inflated their deductions.
“Such offences are punishable under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act," the advisory said. “Taxpayers are, therefore, strictly advised not to fall prey to false promises or mis-advice by unscrupulous intermediaries and submit wrong claims in their ITRs, which would be treated as cases of tax evasion.”
'Vigilance will be alerted'
“In the cases of such wrong claims by the government/PSU employees, reference would be made to the concerned vigilance division for action under conduct rules," it said.
The Income Tax Department pointed out that it has systems in place to identify taxpayers who are non-compliant and who try to subvert the trust-based system put in place for the filing of taxes.
“In all such cases of high risk, the department may examine and verify the details submitted by taxpayers in their ITR subsequent to the processing of returns,” it said.
The advisory asked tax advisors to “confine their advice to taxpayers within the four corners of the IT Act”, warning them that violators will be prosecuted and the case could be sent to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate for criminal prosecution.
Published - April 19, 2018 11:19 am IST
