I-T Department Deactivated 11.44 Lakh PAN Cards till July 27, Says MoS Finance Santosh Gangwar

Gangwar said more than 1500 PAN cards were detected by the department which were issued to non-existent persons.

New Delhi, August 2: In its bid to crack down on black money and tax evasion, the Income Tax Department till July 27 deactivated more than 11.44 Lakh Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards. The information was furnished by Minister of Finance State Santosh Gangwar in Rajya Sabha.

This Apart, Gangwar said more than 1500 PAN cards were detected by the department which were issued to non-existent persons/ entities. He said, “As on July 27, 11,44,211 PANs have been identified and deleted or deactivated in cases where multiple PANs were found allotted to one person. One PAN for one person is the guiding principle for allotment of PAN.” [Read: You Can Claim Your HRA Without Landlord’s PAN Details, Say Tax Experts]

Replying to a question on recovery of undisclosed income post demonetisation, Gangwar said the Income Tax Department conducted searches in 900 groups of persons during November 2016 to March 2017, leading to seizure of Rs 900 crore and admission of undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore.

Besides, 8,239 surveys were conducted leading to detection of undisclosed income of Rs 6,745 crore.

“Information of various kinds of wrong-doings by about 400 persons was also shared with other law enforcement agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation for appropriate action,” he said.

He further said during the current financial year (till June end) the department conducted searches in 102 groups, seizing assets worth Rs 103 crore.

Referring to the launch of ‘Operation Clean Money’ on January 31, Gangwar said about 18 lakh persons whose cash transactions did not appear in line with their tax profile were identified and approached through email/SMS.

Over 9.27 lakh responses were received giving information on 13.33 lakh accounts involving cash deposits of around Rs 2.89 lakh crore.

(With inputs from PTI)