The Delhi investigation wing of the department has carried out more than a dozen searches and found evidence about 43 undisclosed immovable properties in Dubai, said a tax official. “The figure of the suspected evasion just in Delhi is over ₹700 crore. Since the investigation is pan India, this amount is only going to go up. We suspect this to run into a few thousand crores,” added the official.
Recently, Germany shared with India information about properties owned by Indians in the Middle East under the ‘Spontaneous Exchange of Information‘ mechanism of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between the two countries. The information included details of properties owned by more than a thousand Indians.
It is not immediately clear how such information landed up in the hands of German authorities.
Taxpayers have admitted undisclosed cash investment of more than ₹125 crore during the Delhi searches, said the official cited earlier.
During the searches, the department found bogus receipts of bogus cash payments, receipts and purchases, the people said. “These are being studied to understand the modus operandi of parking unaccounted capital outside the country – extent of the non-disclosure of assets abroad and the scope or potential of black money,” said another official, adding that they are looking at applying the Income Tax Act or Black Money Act in these cases.Since the end of October, a flurry of notices has been issued based on this information that the government shared with the Director General of Income Tax – Investigation.The department has asked its investigation wing to conduct 360-degree profiling of the taxpayers under scrutiny, along with determining the residency and cross-mapping of foreign assets already declared, people in the know said.