After the demonetisation of high value currency by the central government, Income Tax Department of Telangana and AP have uncovered Rs 280 crore of unaccounted income in the two Telugu states.
Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Sushil Kumar and Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) Nina Nigam, in a media conference, said that the department had conducted 12 searches after demonetisation and recovered Rs 11 crore in cash and Rs 4.2 crore in the form of gold jewellery.
Out of the recovered cash, new denomination notes accounted for Rs 1.9 crore.
However, the officials added that under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyana Yojana (PMGKY), there was one last opportunity for black money holders to come forward for voluntarily disclosure of their unaccounted money.
Under PMGKY, people with unaccounted money can deposit the money in cash, cheque, demand draft or electronically in any bank where direct tax payments are accepted.
50% of the money is taxed, while 25% of the amount will be kept as a non-interest four-year bond with the RBI. The rest can be utilised.
However, any money obtained from money laundering or any other criminal activity would not be accepted.
“Failure to submit a prescribed declaration form, which can be downloaded online, will result in a steeper 60% tax penalty, with a 15% surcharge,” Sunil Kumar told Times of India.
“With the strengthened IT Act, the consequences would be 75% to 85% tax to be paid along with prosecution with punishment up to seven years in jail if unknown income is not declared in the returns,” Sushil Kumar added.