I-T dept holds workshop on filing tax returns in Noida

The department officials said they wanted to reach out to third parties such as banks, transport department, tax bar associations, chartered accountants, car dealers, jewellers and traders in the city.

The director of intelligence and criminal investigation, a wing of the Income Tax (I-T) department, from Kanpur on Thursday organised a workshop on filing tax returns at the I-T office in Sector 24 from 4pm-5pm.

A workshop on filing tax returns was held at the I-T office in Sector 24 from 4pm-5pm

The department officials said they wanted to reach out to third parties such as banks, transport department, tax bar associations, chartered accountants, car dealers, jewellers and traders in the city.

Officials of the I-T department said that third parties such as banks, car dealers or transport officials are liable to file correct and complete statements of financial transactions as mandated by the I-T laws.

“The objective of this workshop is to educate those filing tax returns about the provisions and technicalities pertaining to filing statements of financial transactions,” said Pradeep S Hedaoo, the director of intelligence and criminal investigation, Kanpur.

He also answered queries from participants in the workshop.

“We have called officials of the transport and UP stamps and registration departments too, as these offices also file statements of financial transactions. Apart from the government officials, we have called associations of corporate houses, industrialists, jewellers and traders, among others, who file returns. The idea is to educate them about the correct filing of financial transactions,” said Alok Nath, deputy director (investigation), I-T department, Noida.

Around 60 third-party filers attended the workshop.

“The outreach initiative is a first of its kind in Noida. It is in line with new legislation to ensure correct filing of Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT). Hardly 2% of our country’s population files income tax returns. The government wants to optimise tax collections. We have witnessed a lot of amendments in laws. Regular taxpayers will not be unnecessarily harassed. But the ones outside the tax net and involved in high-value cash transactions should be brought within the ambit of taxpayers,” said Hedaoo.

“If somebody is buying a luxury vehicle or paying bills in cash of more than Rs50,000, it should be reported to the I-T department. We want to educate third parties such as banks and transport office,” said Hedaoo.

Officials advised car dealers to communicate to them in the prescribed format if a person is buying a car of Rs10 lakh in cash. “Earlier, car dealers were providing us information, annually, in CDs. Now they can upload the statement of financial transactions online, to our website,” said Hedaoo.