Tax evasion of Rs 9,951 crore detected in last 3 years, says Arun Jaitley

Tax authorities detected as many as 672 cases of tax evasion, in the current financial year through September, valued at Rs 1,379.57 crore, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed th Parliament on Friday.

In the last three financial years, 4,590 cases involving cross border tax evasion of Rs 9,951 crore were detected, Jaitley said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

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The customs field formations, including Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, detected 1,914 cases involving tax evasion worth Rs 4,769.25 crore in 2013-14.

The number of cases detected in 2012-13 and 2011-12 was 1,487 and 1,189, respectively, involving tax evasion of Rs 2,207.55 crore and Rs 2,975.14 crore respectively.

The finance minister further said that all field formations of Customs including Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have been sensitised to thwart and prevent any attempt of cross border tax evasion.

Scrutiny of periodic returns filed by the Central Excise assessees is done regularly. Periodic audit of returns and financial records of Central Excise assessees is carried out and focus is given to collection of information and faster investigation of cases of evasion of central excise duties.

To another question, Jaitley said 1,396 Tax Evasion Petitions (TEPs) were received in Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) since July 1 which have been disseminated to the respective income-tax authorities for appropriate action.

The finance minister said TEPs regarding undisclosed income/assets are received by the government on a regular basis.

Some TEPs are received in the CBDT which are forwarded to jurisdictional income-tax authorities for appropriate action while others are received by the income-tax authorities directly.

Each TEP is taken into cognizance for further course of action, depending upon nature of information and facts and circumstances of the case, Jaitley said.