The controversial banking cash transaction tax, that came into effect almost a year back in June 5, 2005, has helped authorities unearth several cases of tax evasion, including the one relating to laundering of around Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion). "Enquiries carried out by the investigation wing on the basis of BCTT statements have led to unearthing of tax evasion in several cases," Revenue Secretary K M Chandrasekhar told PTI.
In this connection, he cited an example of huge cash withdrawal in a branch of Federal Bank [Get Quote] of India in Chandni Chowk. Noticed through the BCTT, it led the Department of Income Tax to three entities who were carrying on the business of purchasing demand drafts from traders at a discount and helping the traders avoid both sales tax and income tax.
These entities would deposit the demand drafts in their own accounts and withdraw the cash, he said, adding that they had laundered around Rs 1,500 crore in a period of 18 months. BCTT has also helped the department detect bogus bills, artificial loss claims and dummy firms, Chandrasekhar said.
The monthly BCT statements are filed by the banks before the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), New Delhi. Thereafter, certain bank branches are selected and the information is sent to the jurisdictional DsGIT (Inv.) to carry out further investigation.
The government has collected Rs 266.88 crore (Rs 2.66 billion) during the first eight months of last fiscal after the levy came into effect.
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