I-T assessment error caused loss of Rs 6,000 cr in real estate taxes, reveals CAG report
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
The Financial Express February 13, 2019
The CAG scrutinised
only 22% of the 78,647 assessments made during this period, and said ITD needed
to internally audit the remaining assessments to pin down reasons for errors.
Further, CAG found that out of 923 real estate transactions involving more than
Rs 1 crore, ITD failed to bring 142 transactions into the tax net.
In
its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) found that the income tax department (ITD) caused a loss of Rs 6,093
crore to the exchequer due to 1,183 mistakes made in assessing the income-tax
returns (ITRs) of real estate companies between financial years 2013-14 and
2016-17.
The CAG scrutinised only 22% of the 78,647 assessments
made during this period, and said ITD needed to internally audit the remaining
assessments to pin down reasons for errors. Further, CAG found that out of 923
real estate transactions involving more than Rs 1 crore, ITD failed to bring
142 transactions into the tax net.
The performance audit on ‘assessment of assessees in the
real estate sector’ found that several companies were outside the tax net as
there was no mechanism with ITD to ensure that all the firms registered with
registrar of companies (RoC) have permanent account number (PAN) and are filing
their returns regularly. Further, ITD system to ensure compliance of filing of
ITRs by the sellers of high value immovable properties was not effective.
ITD was not effectively using other third-party data to
widen their tax net, the audit report said. “Due importance was not accorded by
the ITD to monitor non-PAN transactions despite these being under the highest
risk category from the point of view of tax evasion in general and due to these
being transactions of the real estate sector in particular.” it said.
Further, the report said that ITD hadn’t properly used
section 56(2)(vii)(b) of the I-T Act to tax transactions where sales
consideration were undervalued and were lower than the value adopted for stamp
duty purposes. “Audit observed 40,906 transactions in which, as per PAN, the
purchasers were either Individuals or HUFs and hence attracted provisions of
section 56(2)(vii)(b).
The total difference
between stamp duty valuation and sales consideration in these transactions was
of Rs 6,057 crore,” the report said.
ITD also failed to verify the source of funds listed as unsecured loans in the
balance sheet of of the real estate companies.
“Introduction of undisclosed/unaccounted money of the
assessee itself as unsecured loans cannot be ruled out in audit,” the report
said.
Additionally, in cases where shares were issued at a high
premium, ITD had failed to share the information about the subscribing entities
with jurisdictional assessing officers for verification of sources of funds and
to get assurance that no unaccounted money/own funds were introduced by the
assessee through share premium.
“Justification for issue of shares at high premium was
not examined by the ITD as fair market value of shares was not based on the
valuation as per the balance sheet and thus manipulation of accounts to
accommodate black money cannot
be ruled out,” the audit report said.
The Telegraph December 24, 2020 A new, potentially more infectious variant of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has been found in Britain in cases linked to South Africa, British health secretary Matt Hancock said on Wednesday. South Africa’s health department said last week that a new genetic mutation of the virus had been discovered and might be responsible for a recent surge in infections there. “Thanks to the impressive genomic capability of the South Africans, we’ve detected two cases of another new variant of coronavirus here in the UK,” Hancock told a media briefing. “Both are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks.” Britain is already trying to curb the spread of a mutated strain of the virus which is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, and further studies are being carried out on the new variant. “This new variant is highly concerning, because it is yet more transmissible, and it appears to have mutated ...
Economics Times April 15, 2019 Paul Mozur The Chinese government has drawn wide international condemnation for its harsh crackdown on ethnic Muslims in its western region, including holding as many as 1 million of them in detention camps. Now, documents and interviews show that authorities are also using a vast, secret system of advanced facial recognition technology to track and control the Uighurs, a largely Muslim minority. It is the first known example of a government intentionally using artificial intelligence for racial profiling, experts said. The facial recognition technology, which is integrated into China’s rapidly expanding networks of surveillance cameras, looks exclusively for Uighurs based on their appearance and keeps records of their comings and goings for search and review. The practice makes China a pioneer in applying next-generation technology to watch its people, potentially ushering in a new era of automated racism. The...
Business Today May 21, 2019 The Finance Ministry has asked Airport Authority of India to issue shares in lieu of the Rs 656 crore capital it has received from the government, sources said. AAI, a 100 per cent government owned statutory corporation, was constituted by an Act of Parliament and came into being on April 1, 1995, by merging erstwhile National Airports Authority and International Airports Authority of India. The fact that AAI did not issue equity to the government in lieu of fund infusion by the government, last year during discussions in the Finance Ministry over share buy back by profit making public sector enterprises. Following that, discussions were held among the officials of Ministry of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Civil Aviation for corporatisation of AAI and legal opinion was obtained on share issuance corresponding to the capital infusion. "The Finance Ministry has written to AAI for issuing shares in lieu of the paid-up capital of ...
Comments
Post a Comment