Income Tax Department Targets 40,000 TDS/TCS Defaulters Nationwide
The Income Tax Department is initiating a nationwide crackdown on approximately 40,000 taxpayers who have failed to deduct or deposit Taxes Deducted at Source (TDS) and Taxes Collected at Source (TCS) for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. This initiative aims to address significant discrepancies in tax deductions and penalize repeat offenders.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has developed a 16-point plan to identify TDS defaulters. Additionally, the department’s data analytics team has compiled a comprehensive list of such taxpayers for scrutiny. Authorities will initially reach out to these taxpayers through official communications to rectify any oversights in tax deposits.
The focus will be on repeat offenders and cases exhibiting significant discrepancies between tax deductions and advance tax payments. Scrutiny will also extend to instances involving frequent changes or corrections in the names of deductees and situations where companies have utilized sick units or subsidiaries with negative profit margins in their audits.
Assessing officers have been instructed to report cases with substantial disallowances under Section 40(a)(ia) of the Income Tax Act. This provision disallows deductions in scenarios where TDS has not been appropriately deducted or deposited with the government. Tax authorities will also monitor instances where TDS returns are revised multiple times, especially if such revisions lead to a significant reduction in the default amount.
