JAMMU, Mar 19: Income Tax Department has detected fraud by several Government employees of various departments in Jammu and Kashmir who allegedly claimed excessive refund of the Income Tax returns without actually being eligible for the same.Taking cognizance of the fraud, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Srinagar, is learnt to have apprised the Chief Secretary, J&K Union Territory about the matter in detail and sought his intervention for necessary direction to all such employees to update their Income Tax Return (ITR-U) along with penalty by March 31, 2023 or face coercive actions.A copy of the official communiqué to the Chief Secretary in this regard is in possession of the Excelsior, according to which, the Income Tax Department has complete details of all such erring employees, who belong to Education, Health, PDD, PHE, Cooperatives, Sports, Tourism, Industry, PWD, Police and other departments of J&K Government.Such cases of bogus refund may lead to scrutiny and recoveries of demand besides levy of penalty under Section 270A of the Income Tax Act, which is 200 percent of the tax levied. Further, the case of such employees may also be taken up for prosecution under Section 276C of IT Act.The matter came to light during analysis of the refunds issued in the Financial Year 2021-22 and 2022-23 in respect of Income Tax Returns filed by the tax payers of Jammu and Kashmir for Assessment Years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
