In its fight against black money, the Income Tax Department is matching the tax history of people with property registrations valued above Rs 30 lakh under the provisions of the anti-benami Act. Any mismatch between the reported income and asset ownership will help tax department to identify any tax evasion. "We have obtained this information under the law. If these profiles are found suspicious or incorrect, action will be taken under the Benami Act," said Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra.

According to Chandra, I-T Department has attached 621 properties, including some bank accounts, and the total amount involved in these cases, being probed under the Benami Transactions Act, is about Rs 1,800 crore. "We will destroy all instruments that are used to convert black money into white. This also includes shell companies,'' Chandra revealed.

The tax department is taking the Benami asset classes very seriously and also putting shell companies and their directors whose operations were recently banned by the government through a thorough check, said Chandra on the sidelines of inauguration of Income Tax Department's pavilion at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan.

The taxman is also matching the data of shell companies which have been debarred recently. If these companies have some benami property or any other financial transaction that the I-T department has received and that is not matching, action will be taken, added Chandra.
In order to implement the anti-benami Act, 24 units of the department have been opened all over the country and information is being sources from different places.

Benami properties are ones held by an owner through proxies. The 28-year-old Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 suffered from inherent defects. On November 1, 2016, the said Act was amended that empowered the specified authorities to provisionally attach benami properties which can eventually be confiscated. Under the new law, if a person is  found guilty of offence of benami transaction by the competent court, he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than one year but which may extend to 7 years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to 25% of the fair market value of the property.

After Rs 500 and Rs 100 notes were outlawed last year, the government launched a surgical strike on Benami Assets. The practice of buying a property in the name of someone other than the buyer has been in practice for a long time with undeclared income and with fake names and identities to avoid paying tax.  #casansaar (Source - Business Today)