ITD issues new Instructions for Income Tax Officers on Benami, TDS, and Foreign Asset Cases

The Directorate of Income Tax (Systems), New Delhi, has recently shared instructions for the income tax officers about how some tax cases are being identified and handled. This is part of the government’s Risk Management Strategy (Cycle-6).

As a part of this strategy, cases related to AY 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 were identified on the basis of risk assessment of verification reports uploaded on the insight portal. These cases are available on the “Insight Portal” under the “Verification Module” tab.

There are mainly three types of cases:

• Suspected Benami Transaction: It happens when a property or asset is held in someone else’s name to evade taxes. These cases have been assigned to PDsIT (Inv.) for taking action under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.

• Undisclosed Foreign Assets or Income Issue: This issue occurs when a person has not disclosed their foreign income or assets on their tax return. Such cases are assigned to PDsIT (Inv) for investigation under the Black Money Act, 2015.

• TDS Compliance Issue: Such cases involve late payments, incorrect deductions, and filing errors regarding TDS. These cases are assigned to the TDS wing.

All related information is available on the Insight Portal, including detailed taxpayer data in the Taxpayer Annual Summary (TAS).

If officers face technical issues, they can contact the helpdesk for support at 1800-103-4216 or [email protected].