The Income Tax (IT) department has sent alerts through text messages and emails to around 3 million salaried taxpayers across the country.
The department gave an opportunity to taxpayers to correct inaccuracies in reported income (if any). (Image/Freepik)
The Income Tax (IT) department has sent alerts through text messages and emails to around 3 million salaried taxpayers across the country, highlighting the apparent mismatch between TDS (tax deducted at source) and the refunds claimed by them in their revised tax returns, an official told FE.
тАЬSince December 31 (2023) was the last day of filing revised returnsтАжwe have sent alerts seeking explanation for the discrepancies in ther returns filed for assessment years 2023-24,тАЭ the official said.
This represents a big jump in the number of such alerts being sent, and the increased monitoring is partly attributed to a special unit opened in Mysuru in October 2022 for centralised matching and cross-verification of the documents.
The department gave an opportunity to taxpayers to correct inaccuracies in reported income (if any), deductions, bank details, personal information, omission of certain income, or mismatch of income between the original return and form 26AS/Annual Information Statement, and file revised returns.
On December 26, the department, in a post on X, said that the alerts sent are to facilitate the taxpayers and make them aware of the information available with the department regarding the transactions reported by the reporting entities during the year.
тАЬIt is not a notice sent to all taxpayers, but is an advisory sent in only those cases where there is an apparent mismatch between disclosures in the ITR & information as received from the reporting entity,тАЭ the post said.
The official quoted above mentioned that in case the taxpayers donтАЩt act on the alert, then the department shall issue notices to them on a case by case basis.
Experts say the common mismatch is due to the difference between the investments declared to the employer and the investments disclosed by the employee in his/her tax return. In most of the cases, employees are unable to invest timely due to paucity of funds and may take the tax deduction during the return filing process leading to tax refunds, they say.
тАЬThese are normally due to the house rent allowance, medical insurance, home loan repayments, tax saving investments under 80C, etc. Other apparent mismatches may be on account of sale of property during the year and other high value transactions such as renewal of fixed deposits,тАЭ said Amit Maheshwari, Tax Partner, AKM Global.
Anita Basrur, Partner, Sudit K Parekh & Co. LLP said that IT authorities take the help of artificial intelligence to identify the discrepancies in ITRs.
тАЬFurther, using its powers under section 133C of the IT Act, tax authorities also issue notices calling for information from the companies to verify the information in its possession relating to any employee,тАЭ she said.
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