If you have done a high value transaction with a bank without quoting your permanent account number (PAN) or submitting Form 60 even if you have PAN, then get ready to face action from the Income-Tax Department.
High value transactions usually mean deposits or withdrawals of Rs 50,000 or more at one go.
Form 60 needs to be filed by an individual who does not have PAN but pays Rs 50,000 or more for a fixed deposit or any deposit and for a bank draft. Even if such an individual applies for credit or debit card, he will need to fill Form 60.
According to tax officials, the Department will verify the media reports of violations by some banks of guidelines relating to ‘Know Your Customer (KYC).’
It has been alleged that these banks allowed high value transactions without quoting PAN. They also allowed submission of Form 60 by regular taxpayers who have PAN.
Now, data related with Form 60 is being looked into. The Department has also obtained an enquiry report of the Reserve Bank of India, which identified a number of cases in which neither PAN nor Form 60 was obtained by the banks. Not only this, dummy PAN has been quoted in case of multiple entities, it has been alleged.
This issue was discussed in the two-day Annual Conference of Chief Commissioners and Director Generals of Income Tax, inaugurated here by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday.
The officials said that the Directorate General of Income Tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) was being entrusted with the work of identifying such defaulters. They will send verification reports to the jurisdiction concerned and accordingly action will be initiated.
The Department will also explore the possibility, at the earliest, of launching quick prosecution under Section 276 C (for wilful attempt to evade tax) in cases where there is no PAN. This will also be applicable to cases where PAN has not been quoted and neither has any tax been paid nor any return filed in spite of there being taxable income, the official mentioned.
The agenda of the meeting also included strategies for augmenting revenue during the current fiscal.
The Finance Ministry aims to collect Rs 6.68 lakh crore as direct taxes during this fiscal. This would require a growth of over 19 per cent. The actual collection during 2012-13 was Rs 5.58 lakh crore with a growth of little over 13 per cent.