Sunday, 25 December 2016
Thursday, 8 December 2016
Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988
Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988
Warning people against depositing their unaccounted old currency in someone else's bank account, the tax department has decided to slap charges under the newly enforced Benami Transactions Act against violators that carries a penalty, prosecution and rigorous jail term of a maximum seven years.
In a related development, official sources said that the department has detected over Rs 200 crore in undisclosed income after it conducted over 80 surveys and about 30 searches in cases of suspicious usage of the scrapped currency. About Rs 50 crore has also been seized in these operations since November 8, they said, across various states.
The sources said the taxman has initiated a country-wide operation to identify suspect bank accounts where huge cash deposits have been made post November 8, when government demonetised the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Such instances where the suspicion is found to be true will be prosecuted under the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, applicable on both movable and immovable property, that has been enforced from November 1 this year.
They said the Act empowers the taxman to confiscate and prosecute both the depositor and the person whose illegal money he or she has "adjusted" in their account.
"The CBDT has asked the Income Tax department to closely monitor all such transactions where people are using bank accounts of other persons for hiding and converting into white their black money using the old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
"Already some instances have been reported in this regard and the department is set to issue notices under the Benami Act," the sources told PTI.
Primarily, they said, the notices will be issued in cases of huge cash deposits beyond the threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh+ but in cases where a suspicious report is received from the bank or the Financial Intelligence Unit below this threshold will also be investigated.
TRP R. P. PODDAR ( INCOME TAX )
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