Demonetisation Aftermath: Income tax raid on doctors reveals undeclared income of Rs 35 crore

Nagpur: Post demonetisation, the strict stand of the Modi government against black money is now taking the form of income tax raids to recover undisclosed income from across the country.

One such raid was undertaken by the IT department recently on  medical practitioners associated with some of the top hospitals in the Nagpur region. TOI reports, that the raid, which was carried fortnight ago, has culminated in disclosures worth Rs 35 crores of unreported income. This includes cash worth around Rs 1.5 crores that was recovered from the doctors.  The total disclosed income will now be added back to their respective income and taxed accordingly, adds the daily

Pune Mirror goes on to add that the recovery came after the raids were conducted at the premises of the said doctors as well as after assessing six years of their documents. Some Highly placed sources at the I-T department told Mirror, “The action has been taken after acquiring information from our sources. All the nine doctors were not maintaining their book of receipts and were found guilty during our survey. All of them have accepted that they made incorrect transactions. Their dealings were made through cash. These surveys went on for three days from February 11 to 13. We seized Rs 35 crore of undisclosed income, including Rs 1.40 crore cash in new currencies along with gold worth Rs 80 lakh.”

The IT department has pointed out that surveys and searches were conducted at the premises of 9 doctors including a prominent cardiologist, an IVF specialist, an orthopaedic surgeon. At the same time, many of the doctors confirmed to Mirror that while the survey was conducted, nothing was recovered from their respective premises.

Read Mirror Story: I-T DEPT OFFICIALS PULL UP NINE CITY DOCTORS AFTER SURVEYS

Tax Stand

As per the recently amendments, the treatment of undisclosed income now falls under the ambit of  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). While the estimated normal tax rate is 30%, the tax rate applicable after the raid goes upto 60%. This is applicable to cash and deposits. If a raid reveals black money in other forms such as real estate, the raid would culminate in a tax rate of atleast 60% going upto even 137%, reports TOI.

Moreover, if the disclosures are made during the raid and the source of the income is revealed on the spot, that rate of the tax is expected to be 60%. This would include 30% tax and 30% penalty. However, if the assassee established the source after the raid, the tax rate would jump to 107%. This would include  75% tax and 25% penalty and surcharge taking it to 107%. However, if the source of the income is not established by the assessee at all, the tax rate would jump to 137%