I-T Department cracks whip on tax evaders

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 22

In a major action against tax evaders, the Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted “surveys” at seven units today. Five of these units are located in Ludhiana while the other two are in Moga and Patiala, respectively.

After giving enough opportunities to tax payers to come forward on their own to pay their dues, officials of the I-T Department now have started acting tough against those indulging in evasion as March 31, the end of 2017-18 fiscal, is approaching fast.

The surveys were conducted under the guidance of the Chief Commissioner (Income Tax), BK Jha. According to well-placed sources in the department, the surveys started in the morning and were continuing till the filing of this report.

“Huge amount of unaccounted cash has been recovered from one of these firms,” said an official with the department.

The surveys were conducted by various teams constituted by the I-T Department in the city.

The units in which surveys were conducted by the I-T sleuths, include Pooja Overseas dealing in garments under Range 7 in Ludhiana, Fakir Chand and Sons in Moga, Vasu Multi Metals in Range 5, Leeford Healthcare in Range 4, a textile manufacturing unit in Range 1 and a chemical manufacturing unit in Range 3.

“We had vital information about these units. Some owners of these units had deposited large amount of cash during the demonetisation phase while others had evaded huge taxes. These were under the eye of the I-T Department for long,” said an official.

The department had conducted a press conference recently, in which residents were asked to come forward on their own and pay their income tax dues. Higher officials had also assured that proper guidance would be given by the I-T Department.

At the same time, it was also made clear that those “deliberately” avoiding pleas of the department were on its radar and would face the music.