In an extremely bold move by the income tax (I-T) department of India, the names of five entities owing over Rs 10 crore in taxes have been made public.
The names of these entities have been made to headline national dailies along with a rather stern suggestion to pay their "tax arrears immediately".
The I-T department has named 96 such tax defaulters in public over the past few years, but these were limited to the I-T department's website under the “tax defaulters” column. This time they have gone a step ahead and have issued advertisements defaming these entities in national newspapers.
This online list contains details like addresses, father’s names, factory locations and PAN card numbers (in certain cases).
“The move is aimed to make people aware at large so that they can inform the IT department in case they have some inputs against them,” a senior official from the IT department said.
"The entries in the list are specific to the tax arrears and assessment year mentioned. The tax defaulter's address, business, shareholding, and management may have changed,” a notice issued by the principal chief commissioner of income tax (New Delhi) said.
The total tax defaults, due by these five defaulters, is Rs 10.27 crore, the notice said.
This move comes two days after Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, launched the ‘Clean Money’ website in a new campaign against untaxed money. This portal will include information of all I-T department raids and will also include names of significant defaulters.
These two bold moves have been executed within the short span of two days and issue a clear signal to tax defaulters all over India, warning them about the severe repercussions of their crimes.
