Warning people against depositing their unaccounted scrapped currency in someone else’s bank account, the Income-Tax department has decided to slap charges under the newly enforced Benami Transactions Act against violators that carry a penalty, prosecution and rigorous jail term of up to seven years.
Official sources said the Act empowered the taxman to confiscate and prosecute both the depositor and the person whose illegal money he or she had “adjusted” in their account. “The CBDT has asked the Income-Tax department to closely monitor all such transactions where people are using bank accounts of other persons for hiding and converting into white their black money.
In a related development, sources said the department had detected over Rs. 200 crores in undisclosed income after it conducted over 80 surveys and about 30 searches over suspicious usage of old notes.
Official sources said the Act empowered the taxman to confiscate and prosecute both the depositor and the person whose illegal money he or she had “adjusted” in their account. “The CBDT has asked the Income-Tax department to closely monitor all such transactions where people are using bank accounts of other persons for hiding and converting into white their black money.
In a related development, sources said the department had detected over Rs. 200 crores in undisclosed income after it conducted over 80 surveys and about 30 searches over suspicious usage of old notes.