New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The government on Monday said that the Income Tax Department initiated a large-scale verification operation across multiple locations in the country, targeting individuals and entities facilitating fraudulent claims of deductions and exemptions in Income Tax Returns (ITRs).
The ongoing verification exercise across 150 premises is expected to yield crucial evidence, including digital records, that will aid in dismantling the networks behind these schemes and ensure accountability under the law.
Investigations have uncovered organised rackets operated by certain ITR preparers and intermediaries, who have been filing returns claiming fictitious deductions and exemptions. These fraudulent filings involve the abuse of beneficial provisions, with some even submitting false TDS returns to claim excessive refunds, according to a Finance Ministry statement.
This action follows a detailed analysis of the misuse of tax benefits under the Income-tax Act, 1961, often in collusion with professional intermediaries.
To identify suspicious patterns, the IT Department has leveraged financial data received from third-party sources, ground-level intelligence, and advanced artificial intelligence tools.
These findings are further substantiated by recent search and seizure operations conducted in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh, where evidence of fraudulent claims was found to have been used by various groups and entities.
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