IT Department conducts searches in Tamil Nadu; Detects Rs.150 Crore Tax Evasion

IT Department conducts searches in Tamil Nadu; Detects Rs.150 Crore Tax Evasion The Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on 20.07.2022 on two business groups; one engaged in real estate, and the other in contracts related to road and railway construction. More than 30 locations in and near Madurai and Chennai were searched during the operation. A significant amount of damning material, including documents and digital data, has been discovered and seized as a result of search actions on these groups. These evidences show that the real estate investing organisation has engaged in extensive tax evasion by accepting substantial amounts of unaccounted cash in the form of on-money. A software programme was being used by the group to keep track of a parallel set of books for such unauthorised cash transactions. It was discovered that the other group engaged in the business of construction contracts engaged in extensive tax evasion by debiting fictitious sub-contract charges and inflating the cost of purchases of various raw materials using self-made vouchers. According to the organization's mode of operation, fake subcontractors were paid contract sums through banking channels, and once the money was withdrawn, it was given back to the assessee group. The search operation in these groups has revealed unaccounted income exceeding Rs. 150 crore. During the course of the search, unaccounted cash worth over Rs. 14 crore and unaccounted gold and jewellery worth over Rs. 10 crore were found. Further investigations are in progress.