Wrong information in Income Tax returns by salaried taxpayers will lead to prosecution: I-T dept

The Income Tax department has issued a stringent warning to all salaried taxpayers against claiming incorrect deductions or under-declaring income after incidences of such malpractices came to their notice in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ludhiana.

The advisory, issued on Monday, said such offences are punishable under various provisions of the Income Tax Act and warned people against using the services of “unscrupulous intermediaries”. It also threatened to refer such cases to other enforcement agencies for further action.

Senior taxmen said the “cautionary advisory” was issued as surveys in the three cities pointed to some salaried employees claiming tax benefits for house property even when they did not own any property.

Similarly, the survey threw up instances of some people claiming deductions for donations or contributions to certain institutions when none were actually made.

The use of technology and matching of such claims has been helping the authorities track those evading taxes or making wrong claims.