The income tax department on wednesday has exhumed Rs 40 crore tax refund scanner. The scanner was found in the investigation conducted by the I-T investigation wing at various locations in Hyderabad and Vijayawada.
Employees of railways , police officials, several companies and eight tax consultants are now under the scanner of the Income Tax Investigation wing, Hyderabad. Income Tax officials said that notices of prosecution will be served on government officials and tech professionals who were involved in the scanner.
The senior officials of the investigation wing said that the investigation will continue in the next few days to identify more consultants and employees involved in the scam and the team further said that the fraud was only the tip of the iceberg and suspect that the scanner could become larger.
The Income Tax Department, while explaining the Modus operandi of the alleged scamsters sources said that “The consultants fabricate bogus documents or file return without proper documentaion under Section 80CC and 80DD even though the employees are not eligible. Each consultant had filed approximately 500 to 1000 such I-T Returns”
A Senior Income Tax official said that “some employees were unaware that it was a fraudulent scheme and willingly provide their credentials to receive refund their accounts for a commission”
It was also found that the consultants, either directly or through their agent, approached the employees offering to file their returns for 10% commission on the refund amount .
This is not the first instance that such fraudulent activity has to come to light .
In 2017 such a crime happened and 200 software employees were involved in that crime. The Hyderabad central crime station conducted the investigation and filed a charge sheet against the consultants and employees who were involved in the scam.
As per section 420, cheating and 406 , criminal breach of trust against two tax consultants charges were filed.
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