Demonetization revelations: 22.22 lakh high-cash depositors never filed tax returns ever

Individuals and entities who deposited a total of more than Rs 2 lakh crore cash during demonetization had never ever filed any income tax return, reveals Union Finance Ministry data accessed by DNA. The papers show a total of 22.22 tax-evaders, of which 21.12 lakh were individuals, 11,579 companies, and the rest comprising of firms (57,693), trusts, Associates of Person (AoP), Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), Artificial Judicial Person (AJP), and miscellaneous categories.

The government started identifying suspicious cash depositors from day one of demonetization. All these tax-evaders are high cash depositors who have returned banned notes worth Rs 1.02 lakh crore. One-third the total individual depositors in the country did not disclose their income. Around 47 per cent AoP, 24.71 per cent trusts, and 38.9 per cent AJP had never filed tax returns.

Department of Revenue's specialised wing of tax officials has received two sets of data from apex direct tax body CBDT and FIU — a dedicated agency which monitors suspicious transactions of banks. This data has been segregated on the basis of Permanent Account Number (PAN) and government officials scrutinised these PANs against tax return data.

In the first set of bank transactions, tax officials identified people and entities making cumulative cash deposits worth Rs 2 lakh to 80 lakh during the first 50 days of demonetization. In the second set, the super rich or heavy cash depositors made cash deposits worth more than Rs 80 lakh in 500 and 1,000 currency notes.

Tax officials have found that 99.40 lakh transactions made in the first set made a total Rs 5.40 lakh crore cash deposits. In the second set of heavy cash deposition by the super-rich, over Rs 80 lakh has been deposited through 1.41 lakh transactions.

Governments and Public-Sector Units (PSUs) have deposited about Rs 50 thousand crore cash in old notes during demonetization. Similarly, scheduled banks have also deposited around 1.40 lakh crore cash of demonetised notes.