17.5.17

Operation Clean Money Portal Launched

In keeping with the twin objective of turning the heat on tax evaders and facilitating those paying their taxes honestly, the Central Board of Direct Taxes unveiled a dedicated portal, Operation Clean Money. This marks the rollout of the second phase of Operation Clean Money.

Besides, the Phase 2 would involve selecting cases for appropriate enforcement action, including verification, search, survey and scrutiny.

The department added 91 lakh new tax payers post demonetisation. The period also saw a substantial jump in applications for permanent account number.

The income tax department will carry out centralised monitoring of the cases selected as part of Operation Clean Money and escalate cases only in case of inadequate response.

It has identified 18 lakh people whose cash deposits or transactions were not found to be in line with their declared income.

It received response from 13.33 lakh accounts involving cash deposits of around Rs.2.89 lakh crore. The department has now identified 5.68 lakh new cases for e-verification besides 3.71 lakh accounts in which it received partial responses.

The portal will now provide a one stop shop for those identified as part of the operation. These people will be informed via SMS and email and will need to access the portal to file their explanation about the transaction in question.

If the department is satisfied by the explanation by the individual, it will close the matter. If it is not satisfied, or there is no response, the case will be selected for further action.

The department will also publish the modus operandi of transactions carried out by the people caught to make an example. Investigation findings of specific sectors, for example jewellery, petrol pumps or real estate, will also be shared.

The department carried out 900 searches and detected undisclosed income of Rs.16,398 crore between November and March 2017, Chandra said, giving details of the actions carried out by authorities during and after demonetisation. Assets sized totalled Rs.900 crore while cash seized was Rs.636 crore.

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