Hyderabad: Fake political donations, but real refunds.
Several information technology professionals from the city have come in the income tax (I-T) department's crosshairs after emerging as "top donors" for registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs). But the newfound love of techies for politics has turned out to be a case of fraud for financial gain by exploiting Section 80GCC of the Income Tax Act, which allows deductions for contributions to parties.
An I-T department investigation uncovered a Rs 110 crore refund scam where city IT professionals from 36 companies had claimed tax refunds under the guise of political donations which they never made.
One case that caught the investigators' attention was of an IT employee with a salary of 46 lakh who claimed to have donated 45 lakh to a party. In some cases, these political parties accepted donations via cheque or bank transfer only to return the amount in cash after deducting a commission.
In previous investigations, frauds in house rent allowance (HRA), education loans and home loan interest claims were exposed. In 2023, a crackdown in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh targeted govt employees engaging in fraudulent refund claims. Now, the focus has shifted to private sector employees.
A key breakthrough came when investigators tracked a common email address used by multiple IT employees filing fraudulent returns. The same amount was then falsely claimed as a tax-deductible donation. RUPPs involved in this scheme were...
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