The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme 2018 regulating grant for informants giving information of benami property actionable under Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, as amended by Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.
The scheme provides for giving reward up to One crore for giving specific information of benami property.
For the purpose of this scheme, ‘Informant’ means a person or group of individuals who have been allotted ‘Informant Code’ and have given specific information in Annexure-A about one or more movable or immovable benami properties of which the fair market value, as defined in the Act, of movable property, and circle rate, as defined in this Scheme, of immovable property is more than Rs. One crore. The identity of the informant shall be kept confidential.
An ‘Informant’ for the purpose of the scheme means a person or group of individuals who have been allotted ‘Informant Code’ and have given specific information in Annexure-A about one or more movable or immovable benami property(ies) of which the fair market value, as defined in the Act, of movable property, and circle rate, as defined in this Scheme, of immovable property is more than Rs. One crore.
A [person who does not fulfill the criteria for being an informant under the scheme shall not be entitled to reward even if he furnishes specific information of benami property in any other manner, e.g., through letter, e-mail, CD, Whats App, SMS, phone, posting in social networking site or publishing letter in newspaper or any other media.
‘Specific information’ under the scheme shall include only the following:
(i) verifiable particulars of the benami property;
(ii) name and address of the person in whose name the property has been acquired (benamidar); and
(iii) credible basis including supporting evidence for the information that the property was actually benami property.
Any person who wants to give specific information in expectation of reward may contact the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax/Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Benami Prohibition) having jurisdiction over the place where the benami property is situated.
An informant under the scheme can be granted both interim & final reward by the competent authority.
