Salaried, HNIs, trusts under income tax lens for mismatch in tax returns filing

The income-tax (I-T) department has sent out about 22,000 notices to taxpayers, including salaried individuals, high net worth individuals (HNIs), trusts, and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs). These notices address differences between the deductions claimed in their tax returns and the information in their Form 16 or Annual Information Statement (AIS), as well as data available with the Income Tax Department, according to a newspaper report.

These notices relate to tax returns for the assessment year (AY) 2023-24, and they were all sent out in the past 15 days. Roughly 12,000 of these notices went to salaried taxpayers, where the difference between claimed deductions and the department’s records exceeded Rs 50,000, as reported by the Economic Times. Additionally, around 8,000 notices were sent to HUF taxpayers, where the income gap between their returns and the IT department’s data was over Rs 50 lakh. For 900 HNIs, the gap was Rs 5 crore or more, and for 1,200 trusts and partnership firms, it exceeded Rs 10 crore. These notices aim to address and correct discrepancies in the tax declarations of these taxpayers, the report mentioned.

In a broader perspective, primary data analytics identified irregularities and inconsistencies in the tax returns of approximately 2 lakh taxpayers. These discrepancies mainly revolve around differences between income declarations, expenses, or bank account details provided in their tax returns and data collected by the IT department, which is based on transactions linked to their bank or UPI accounts. This data analysis is part of the department’s efforts to ensure tax compliance and accuracy in financial reporting. An income tax department official told the financial daily, “This is the first intimation notice. Only if taxpayers do not respond to it or fail to provide any clarification, a demand notice would be processed.”

Taxpayers who received notices about discrepancies in their tax returns have a couple of options to resolve the issue. They can either pay the outstanding tax along with any applicable interest by filing an updated and corrected tax return or provide a detailed explanation for the discrepancies.