Lok Sabha Question No. 1010 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-21
Subject: Income Tax Defaulters
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: SANKAR PRASAD DATTA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1010 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY THE  21 JULY 2017 30 ASHADHA SAKA 1939

## INCOME TAX DEFAULTERS

## 1010.  SHRI SANKAR PRASAD DATTA:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a)     whether the Government proposes to make public the names of individuals/ corporates who have defaulted in paying income tax and if so, the details of such top twenty entities during the last three years;
- (b)     whether the Government has any effective mechanism to deal with Income Tax defaulters and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon; and
- (c)     whether the Government proposes to take action against those who have failed to file IT returns and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a)            The  Income  Tax  Department  is  already  making  public  the  names  of  individuals/ corporates who have defaulted in paying income tax. During the last three years, names of 96 tax defaulters who fulfill the prescribed parameters have been published in the leading national & regional newspapers. Their names have also been placed on the website of the income tax department at www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
- (b)      Income Tax defaulters are dealt with as per the procedure/ mechanism laid down in the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Rules. Strategies and targets for recovery of arrears of taxes are also laid down as part of the annual Central Action Plan document of the Department. Efforts of the assessing officer to recover the outstanding demands are regularly reviewed and monitored by the superior authorities. Databases like Individual Transaction Statement and 360-degree profile generated by the Department and those maintained by other agencies like FIU-IND  have  also  been  made  available  to  the  field  units  for  identification  of  assets  for recovery.  Guidelines  for  Tax  Recovery  Officers  for  recovery  and  guidelines  to  assessing authorities  for  dealing  with  stay  petitions  have  been  issued.    A  new  reward  scheme  for information leading to recovery of arrears has also been notified.  The names of confirmed defaulters are placed in public domain, as mentioned above.

(c)      The Income Tax Department has already implemented the Non-Filer Monitoring System (NMS)  which  assimilates  and  analyses  in-house  information  as  well  as  transactional  data received from third-parties, including Statement of Financial transaction (SFT), Tax Deduction at  Source  (TDS)  and  Tax  Collection  at  Source  (TCS)  statements,  Intelligence  &  Criminal Investigation (I&CI) data etc. to identify such persons/entities who have undertaken high value financial transactions but have not filed income-tax returns. Five cycles of NMS have been undertaken since 2013 and about 2.04 crore non-filers with potential tax liability have been identified under NMS. About 95 lakh returns have been filed by the target segment and selfassessment tax of about Rs. 16,500 Crore has been paid.

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## DRAFT  REPLY  TO  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1010  TO  BE ANSWERED ON 21.07.2017

| (a) whether the Government proposes to make public the names of individuals/ corporates who have defaulted in paying income tax and if so, the details of such top twenty entities during the last three years;   | The Income Tax Department is already making public the names of individuals/ corporates who have defaulted in paying income tax. During the last three years, names of 96 tax defaulters who fulfill the prescribed parameters have been published in the leading national & regional newspapers. Their names have also been placed on the website of the income tax department at www.incometaxindia.gov.in.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (b) whether the Government has any effective mechanism to deal with Income Tax defaulters and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon; and                                                 | Income Tax defaulters are dealt with as per the procedure/ mechanism laid down in the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Rules. Strategies and targets for recovery of arrears of taxes are also laid down as part of the annual Central Action Plan document of the Department. Efforts of the assessing officer to recover the outstanding demands are regularly reviewed and monitored by the superior authorities. Databases like Individual Transaction Statement and 360-degree profile generated by the Department and those maintained by other agencies like FIU-IND have also been made available to the field units for identification of assets for recovery. Guidelines for Tax Recovery Officers for recovery and guidelines to assessing authorities for dealing with stay petitions have been issued. A new reward scheme for information leading to recovery of arrears has also been notified. The names of confirmed defaulters are placed in public domain, as mentioned above. |
| (c) whether the Government proposes to take action against those who have failed to file IT returns and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?                                              | The Income Tax Department has already implemented the Non-Filer Monitoring System (NMS) which assimilates and analyses in-house information as well as transactional data received from third-parties, including Statement of Financial transaction (SFT), Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) statements, Intelligence & Criminal Investigation (I&CI) data etc. to identify such persons/entities who have undertaken high value financial transactions but have not filed income-tax returns. Five cycles of NMS have been undertaken since 2013 and about 2.04 crore non-filers with potential tax liability have been identified under NMS. About 95 lakh returns have been filed by the target segment and self- assessment tax of about Rs.16,500 Crore has been paid.                                                                                                                                                                                     |