IT Dept to take penal action against defaulters

Pune, Oct 3 (UNI) Income Tax Commissioner Raj Kumar today warned assessees in Pune Circle, to clear their arrears of Rs 300 crore or face penal action, including attachment of immovable and movable properties.

The Commissioner told reporters here that there were over a thousand assessees who owed the arrears, including a backlog of upto 15 years in a few cases.

''As per directions and policy of the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT), collection centres have been asked to initiate punitive action like attachment of movable and immovable properties.

The defaulters are being asked to pay up in cases where arrear demands have been confirmed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). These are no longer disputed cases,'' he said and added that the assessees can, however, appeal in the High Court.

To a query, the Commissioner said the assessees include individuals, corporates, trusts, firms and companies. The cases have been registered after searches and scrutiny of accounts through scientific methods.

''Notices have been sent and deadlines given to defaulters who have a period of a month to clear the dues,'' he said.

Talking of Pune Circle including Nashik, Thane and Kolhapur, the Commissioner said Pune ranks among the top seven collection centres in the country. For the financial year 2007-'08, the budget targets for the circle is estimated at Rs 10,576 crore -- an increase of 25 per cent over the previous achieved target of Rs 8,978 crores. The collection for September, is Rs 4,559 crore as against the previous corresponding period's Rs 3,130 crore -- an increase of 45.65 per cent.

''The targets are achievable, there has been an increase of 50 per cent in the advance tax assessees. A collection of Rs 552.16 crore has already been achieved through the advance taxes from among the top 100 tax payers as against Rs 367.88 crore from the previous year and Bank of Maharashtra retains its premier position, he added.

UNI