Bank accounts in the name of children and a sudden surge of balance in them in the weeks after November 8 demonetisation will now be scrutinised by income tax authorities. 

Swollen zero balance Jan Dhan accounts will also come under scanner as the I-T department is preparing to send emails to assessees whose deposits do not match their tax-paying profile.

As part of the Centre’s campaign against black money, authorities have already started questioning deposits of over Rs 5 lakh after November 9 when Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender, and December 30 when the window for their deposits ended.

Now, the I-T department is preparing to tighten vigil on deposits that are less than Rs 5 lakh against assesses’ tax profile. “Not only the savings and current accounts, but also the accounts in the name of children which appear to have been misused during the seven-week window will come under scrutiny,” an official told DH.

The department has already sought explanation through text messages and e-mails to eight lakh people whose post-note ban deposits do not match with their tax-paying behaviour.

It is now verifying over Rs 4.5 lakh crore of suspicious deposits made by those 18 lakh people and will send letters to those who have not responded to its messages and e-mails.

The department will collect all such information about assessees now, but action against them will continue after March 31 as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) runs till the end of March, the official said.

Under PMGKY, those with unaccounted cash were given a chance to come clean by paying 50% of such cash as tax, penalty and surcharge, while parking an additional 25% in a non-interest bearing bank account for four years.

Parliament earlier this month had passed a bill which made holding of more than 10 scrapped notes of Rs 500/1,000 denomination punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.#casansaar (PTI - Decanhearld)