The tax payers' net in India is widening, but also growing is the tax evaders' list. The first half of this fiscal saw 69 more cases of tax evasion with assets worth nearly Rs 217.07 crore (Rs 2.17 billion) seized, compared to Rs 171.57 crore last fiscal.The number of cases of income tax evasion, i.e. warrants executed by the tax authorities, was 1,538 in the first half of 2008-09 till September 30 this year, while it was 1,469 in the same period last year, said a Finance Ministry report.
With more evasion cases piling up, the income tax department seized Rs 150.68 crore (1.5 billion) of cash, nearly Rs 53 crore (Rs 530 million) of jewellery, and about Rs 13 crore (Rs 130 million) of other assets.
The operations are done under the supervision of the Investigation Directorate, under the Ministry of Finance, which collects intelligence in respect of tax evasion and also conducts search and seizure operations all over the country.
The growth in the number of evasion cases, however, is only 4 per cent over the previous fiscal, but the increase in assets seized by the tax authorities for alleged evasion has grown in the same proportion as that in the number of tax return filers -- around 26 per cent.
The number of income tax returns filed with the department was over 21.93 lakh in 2007-08, growing to nearly 30 lakh in 2008-09, says the report.
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