Income Tax department to impose measures on defaulters

Income Tax department will be imposing a series of measures on wilful defaulters. The Income Tax has decided to block Permanent Account Number (PAN) and cancel LPG subsidy. A number of such measures have been suggested by the tax department, to be undertaken in the current financial year, in order to control the threat of large-scale tax avoidance and evasion.

Further, if PAN is blocked due to defaulter case then tax department will ensure that defaulters are not sanctioned any loans or overdraft facility by public sector banks.

Income Tax department also proposes that the identities of such blocked PANs be circulated to the Registrar of Properties ‘with a request for not allowing any registration of immovable properties where such PANs are involved.’ The defaulters’ information has also been recommended to be circulated across tax offices so that their activities, loans or government subsidy can be plugged country-wide.

The department has also decided to subscribe to the Credit Information Bureau Limited (CIBIL) data, on a possible payment basis, to check out the financial activities of defaulters and undertake action against them for recovery and freezing of assets.

CIBIL is an agency to collect and maintain records of an entities’ payments pertaining to loans and credit cards. The department, from last year, has also started to ‘name and shame’ large tax defaulters (over Rs 20 crore default) by publishing their names and other credentials in leading national dailies and on its official web portal. From current fiscal year, the IT department has also decided to publicly name all category of taxpayers who have a default of Rs 1 crore and above.