FM Nirmala Sitharaman: Govt Sent 1 lakh Notices regarding Unfiled Returns of Underreported Income

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 25 July 2023

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister reported that the government has issued one lakh notices for failure to file returns, underreporting income, and also the sources which have been misinterpreted.

She also stated that notices have been sent to those whose income was close to 50 lakhs, and they are anticipated to be paid off by the end of the current fiscal year. FM Sitharaman also Saud that all these cases involve old returns that were filed four to six years ago while speaking at the 164th Income Tax Day celebrations.

Around 1 lakh notices have been sent to those people whose income is determined to be more than what they have filed or if they haven't filed the correct information, she said.

These notices have been sent by taking the assurance of the CBDT's Chairman that by March 2024, this entire block will be cleared. Only those people who have received these notices during the last 14 months whose incomes are above Rs 50 lakh.

Officials are permitted by income tax law to reopen assessments that are up to six years old. The Minister continued by mentioning that the CBDT finished its examination of the 55,000 notices it had sent by a Supreme Court judgment passed in May 2023.

Earlier, the taxpayers were bound to keep a record of 10 years whereas tax assessments are now closed after six years. Only in specific circumstances do they need to reopen these assessments in the fourth, fifth, or sixth years.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairperson Nitin Gupta, more than 4 crore income tax returns (ITR) have been submitted so far during the fiscal year of 2022-23 which has led to Rs 80 lakh in returns.

74 million income tax returns have been filed in FY23, according to data shared by the finance ministry but 51.2 million, or 70 per cent of these were zero tax returns which means that the taxpayers claimed no tax liability.