I-T to track investments made by Indians in other countries; Dubai is first target

Mangaluru, Oct 2: The Intelligence and Criminal Investigation wing of The Income Tax will now track investments made by Indians in foreign countries too.

D K Mishra, Director (Administration) of the wing, who inaugurating the new office of the wing in the city on Monday, said that the Income Tax Department would launch a pilot project from this fiscal to track investments by Indians in Dubai.

“Dubai is our first target... A good number of people from Coastal Karnataka and Kerala invest in Dubai. We will study the investments made in Dubai. If it reveals significant results, the wing will extend the study to investments in other regions,” he said.

He also pointed out that Coastal Karnataka was the second most potential region after Bengaluru and enjoyed a high position in terms of the charter of revenue for the department.

Mishra said the wing was also looking at cases of evasion of tax by bogus investments. The wing was going ahead with prosecution in many cases of non compliance of income tax laws.

Terming the Intelligence and Criminal Investigation wing as the intelligence hub of the department, Mishra said with limited staff at their disposal, they were keeping a close watch on high value transactions including those made in real estate, mutual funds and in bank deposits. They are collecting information indirectly from offices of sub-registrars and other sources. The wing was collecting information of investments made by Indians abroad. It was looking at different avenues of tax evasion namely premature encashment of LIC policies. Such information was being collated, assimilated and verified before the process is initiated against instances of tax evasion, he said.

Of the 3.5 lakh tax assessments that were scrutinised last year, 60,000 were at the instance of the wing. Information given by the wing in 13,000 cases led to disclosure of about Rs. 20,000 crore of undisclosed income. Mr. Mishra said the wing was spreading its wings and expanding its reach by adapting technology. The staff of the wing was getting better infrastructure and facilities, he said.